Published in Nature Water, A research team led by Prof. Jian Lu at City University of Hong Kong has engineered an adsorption-coupled solar-powered seawater resource separator (ASP) that simultaneously generates freshwater, extracts lithium and uranium, and produces green electricity — a single integrated system tackling three of the world’s most pressing challenges: water scarcity, energy insecurity and critical mineral depletion.

The breakthrough hinges on multi-stage latent heat recycling combined with synergistic multi-field coupling. Waste heat from the photovoltaic panel drives cascaded capillary evaporation, while coupled temperature, flow and concentration fields collectively accelerate ion transport and selective adsorption. Under 1-sun irradiation, lithium and uranium extraction jump by 10.2 times and 11.6 times, respectively, over dark conditions. Outdoor validation delivers 154.7 W peak power, 19.82 kg m⁻² daily water output, and efficient resource recovery from natural seawater.

This paradigm redefines evaporation from a mere desalination step into an active mass-transport engine, enabling low-cost, off-grid multi-resource harvesting. It directly advances UN Sustainable Development Goals 6 and 7, opening a scalable pathway for clean water, renewable power and strategic mineral supply sourced entirely from the ocean. Here is the full article published in Nature Water.