High throughput of clean water excluding ions, organic media, and bacteria from defect-abundant graphene aerogel under sunlight

We have developed the defect-abundant srGA for highly efficient production of clean water with high rejection of ions, organic media, and bacteria. The srGA has a low thermal conductivity of 0.0075 W m−1 K−1 and a record high surface temperature (~90 °C) for fast solar steam generation. The water evaporation rate of srGA is 1.78 kg m−2 h−1 with the solar thermal conversion efficiency of up to 91% under only 1 sun. For practical daily use, a one-step production of drinkable water excluding ions, oil and bacteria is achieved from the water sources of the sea, lake, and emulsified oil/water mixtures.261