Efficient Water Transport and Solar Steam Generation via Radially, Hierarchically Structured Aerogels

Nature-inspired water-cycling system, akin to the trees to perform effective water and solar energy management for photosynthesis and transpiration, is considered to be a promising strategy to solve water scarcity issues globally. However, challenges remain in terms of the relatively low transport rate, short transport distance, and unsatisfactory extraction efficiency. Herein, enlightened by conifer tracheid construction, an efficient water transport and evaporation system composed of a hierarchical structured aerogel is reported. This architecture with radially aligned channels, micron pores, and molecular meshes is realized by applying a radial ice-template method and in-situ cryopolymerization technique. This nature-inspired design benefits the aerogel excellent capillary rise performance, realizing long-distance (>28 cm at 190 min) and quick (>1 cm at 1s, >9 cm at 300 s) anti-gravity water transport in a macroscopic scale, regardless of clean water, seawater, sandy groundwater, or dye-including efflu...