Porphyrin Covalent Organic Framework (POF)-Based Interface Engineering for Solar Steam Generation

Through replacement of traditional energy sources with sunlight as the heat source, solar steam generation has emerged as a promising technology for water purification and residuals management. Despite significant efforts to develop efficient photothermal materials for solar steam devices, challenges associated with scalable fabrication of high-performance materials remain. Moreover, most existing methods cannot be easily engineered to produce steam-generating devices with both arbitrary control over shape and high photothermal efficiency. Herein, a flexible porphyrin organic framework (POF)-based interface engineering method is introduced to produce high-performance solar steam generators. POFs, a recently discovered class of materials, are demonstrated to grow readily on a diverse range of porous substrates, including membranes, fabrics, sponges, and wood. Wood@POF exhibits particularly strong performance, achieving approximate to 80% light-to-steam conversion efficiency. This study demonstrates a universal, simple, and scalable interface engineering strategy for the fabrication of solar steam generators based on POF materials.