Cellulose-derived hydrogel with low vaporization enthalpy enables highly efficient solar steam generation.

Cellulose has drawn much attention in the field of interfacial solar steam generation (ISSG) due to its advantages of renewability, abundant availability, and hydrophilicity. However, the hydroxyl groups of cellulose form weak hydrogen bond interaction with water, resulting in high evaporation enthalpy and thereby low evaporation rate. Herein, carboxylic acid groups possess of strong interaction with water were introduced into cellulose hydrogel to fabricate efficient ISSG.