As part of my master’s programme in resource use and environmental science at China Agricultural University,I had the privilege of joining a study trip to the Shiyang River Basin and its surrounding areas from 17 to ...As part of my master’s programme in resource use and environmental science at China Agricultural University,I had the privilege of joining a study trip to the Shiyang River Basin and its surrounding areas from 17 to 21 July 2025.This trip to Gansu Province was organised under the China-Africa Joint Centre for Agricultural Demonstration and Training in Arid Regions programme,an initiative aligned with President Xi Jinping’s call for deeper China-Africa cooperation.展开更多
Sustainable water,energy and food(WEF)supplies are the bedrock upon which human society depends.Solar-driven interfacial evaporation,combined with electricity generation and cultivation,is a promising approach to miti...Sustainable water,energy and food(WEF)supplies are the bedrock upon which human society depends.Solar-driven interfacial evaporation,combined with electricity generation and cultivation,is a promising approach to mitigate the freshwater,energy and food crises.However,the performance of solar-driven systems decreases significantly during operation due to uncontrollable weather.This study proposes an integrated water/electricity cogeneration-cultivation system with superior thermal management.The energy storage evaporator,consisting of energy storage microcapsules/hydrogel composites,is optimally designed for sustainable desalination,achieving an evaporation rate of around 1.91 kg m^(-2)h^(-1).In the dark,heat released from the phase-change layer supported an evaporation rate of around 0.54kg m^(-2)h^(-1).Reverse electrodialysis harnessed the salinity-gradient energy enhanced during desalination,enabling the long-running WEC system to achieve a power output of~0.3 W m^(-2),which was almost three times higher than that of conventional seawater/surface water mixing.Additionally,an integrated crop irrigation platform utilized system drainage for real-time,on-demand wheat cultivation without secondary contaminants,facilitating seamless WEF integration.This work presents a novel approach to all-day solar water production,electricity generation and crop irrigation,offering a solution and blueprint for the sustainable development of WEF.展开更多
文摘As part of my master’s programme in resource use and environmental science at China Agricultural University,I had the privilege of joining a study trip to the Shiyang River Basin and its surrounding areas from 17 to 21 July 2025.This trip to Gansu Province was organised under the China-Africa Joint Centre for Agricultural Demonstration and Training in Arid Regions programme,an initiative aligned with President Xi Jinping’s call for deeper China-Africa cooperation.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.52070057)China Postdoctoral Science Foundation(No.2023M730855)Heilongjiang Postdoctoral Fund(No.LBH-Z22183)for financial support。
文摘Sustainable water,energy and food(WEF)supplies are the bedrock upon which human society depends.Solar-driven interfacial evaporation,combined with electricity generation and cultivation,is a promising approach to mitigate the freshwater,energy and food crises.However,the performance of solar-driven systems decreases significantly during operation due to uncontrollable weather.This study proposes an integrated water/electricity cogeneration-cultivation system with superior thermal management.The energy storage evaporator,consisting of energy storage microcapsules/hydrogel composites,is optimally designed for sustainable desalination,achieving an evaporation rate of around 1.91 kg m^(-2)h^(-1).In the dark,heat released from the phase-change layer supported an evaporation rate of around 0.54kg m^(-2)h^(-1).Reverse electrodialysis harnessed the salinity-gradient energy enhanced during desalination,enabling the long-running WEC system to achieve a power output of~0.3 W m^(-2),which was almost three times higher than that of conventional seawater/surface water mixing.Additionally,an integrated crop irrigation platform utilized system drainage for real-time,on-demand wheat cultivation without secondary contaminants,facilitating seamless WEF integration.This work presents a novel approach to all-day solar water production,electricity generation and crop irrigation,offering a solution and blueprint for the sustainable development of WEF.
