Advanced plasma hydrogel evaporator for efficient solar-driven saline-alkaline water treatment and agricultural application

Saline-alkaline land significantly impedes social development and urgently requires effective solutions. Solardriven interfacial evaporation provides a promising green alternative to address this challenge. In this work, a high-efficiency plasma hydrogel evaporator (PHE) was crosslinked by liquid phase pulsed discharge plasma (LPDP) technology within 10 min, followed by a simple freeze-thaw process. The PHE demonstrates remarkable performance in treating saline-alkaline water. Under one solar irradiation, the PHE achieved an evaporation rate of 2.68 kg center dot m- 2 center dot h- 1 in saline-alkaline water with high salinity stress (150 mmol center dot L- 1, Na+ concentration). The collected purified water (PW) showed a reduction in total dissolved solids by three orders of magnitude and a significant elimination of alkalinity. To further evaluate the feasibility of utilizing saline-alkaline water resources with the PHE technology, PW was used for maize cultivation, demonstrating a favorable growth trend. Additionally, PHE effectively addressed the limitations of complex fabrication processes and high evaporation enthalpy associated with traditional evaporators. The work offers a cost-effective and promising approach for freshwater shortages, soil salinization, and saline-alkaline water treatment in challenging environments, contributing to sustainable agricultural development.