Fig. 3: Performance evaluation of the mangrove-mimicked solar vapor generator and crystallizer (SVGC) at different irradiances using water with different salinities.

a Dark evaporation fluxes and water mass changes (inset figure) for the mangrove-mimicked SVGC using water with different salinities (b) Water mass changes of the proposed SVGC under various intensities of light illumination (0, 0.5, 1, 1.5 suns). c Measured temperatures at the evaporation surface as a function of different intensities of light illumination (0, 0.5, 1, 1.5 suns). Average thermal efficiencies and evaporation fluxes at (d) different irradiances using 3.5 wt.% solution and (e) different salinities under 1 sun. Error bars represent the standard deviation of three-time measurements. f Durability test for the SVGC device for a period of 4 consecutive days using the solution with a salinity of 3.5 wt.%. g, h Scalable SVGC devices: (g) Performance comparison between single- and double-layered biomimetic SVGC devices in terms of mass change of water with salinity of 3.5 wt.%, (h) Outdoor experimental setup for freshwater collection consisting of four mangrove-mimicked SVGC. i Ionic concentration for the real seawater before and after solar thermal distillation.