Food-derived carbonaceous materials for solar desalination and thermo-electric power generation

How to tackle food waste (FW) by means of advanced treatments with less carbon emission and high added-value has become a formidable challenge that human society has to face in the future. Herein, we present a sustainable way of repurposing FW that not only mitigates carbon emission but also turns FW as highly porous carbon-based photothermal materials for low-cost solar desalination and thermoelectric (TE) generation. Different FWs have been extensively studied for the desired purposes, and the carbonaceous FWs exhibit outstanding potential and versatility in the highlighted applications with high performance achieved (solar efficiency: 84.1%, TE power output: 0.4 Wm(-2)). This strategy of reusing FW holds immeasurable benefits for a sustainable society and is of tremendous significance to future FW management and material science due to the low cost and great abundance, which is able to serve in tackling global issues like the water- and energy-crisis.