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Boosting water evaporation with clever surface design

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Efficient evaporation is crucial for solar-powered water purification, resource recovery and energy utilization, yet boosting evaporation without using more energy remains challenging. Here, a smart surface on which water binds weakly, thereby enabling rapid solar evaporation, makes clean, sustainable water production more efficient.

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Fig. 1: Smart interface for rapid evaporation.

Subjects

  • Civil engineering
  • Water resources
  • Carbon Taxation and Economic Equity Analysis

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Acknowledgements

S.C.T. acknowledges the support of the Singapore Ministry of Education Academic Research Fund Tier 1 (A-8002144-00-00) and Singapore National Medical Research Council (A-8004035-00-00).

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Shuai Guo, Zhen Yu.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    Shuai Guo, Zhen Yu & Swee Ching Tan

Authors

  1. Shuai Guo
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  2. Zhen Yu
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  3. Swee Ching Tan
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to
Swee Ching Tan.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Guo, S., Yu, Z. & Tan, S.C. Boosting water evaporation with clever surface design.
Nat Sustain (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-026-01843-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-026-01843-6

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