ABSTRACT Global population growth and technological progress have intensified water and energy shortages. Interface‐type solar evaporation technology is promising for simultaneous clean water production and energy recovery, but pure PNIPAM‐based evaporators suffer from poor mechanical strength, unstable molding, and single functionality. Herein, we developed a thermally adaptive solar evaporator (NAZ‐ZC) by optimizing the material system. By copolymerizing poly(n‐isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) with acrylic acid (AA), we aimed to enhance mechanical strength, water storage capacity, and functional diversity. Additionally, a multi‐network structure with dual crosslinkers (MBA/AG) was constructed to minimize the excessive occurrence of PNIPAM structural changes. Combined with in‐situ grown ZIF‐67@CNTs photothermal layers, NAZ‐ZC achieves temperature‐driven wetting switching (hydrophilic/hydrophobic) via PNIPAM's LCST effect. Under 1‐sun irradiation, it exhibits an evaporation rate of 3.88 kg m −2 h −1 , 48 h stable operation without salt accumulation in 15 wt.% NaCl solution, and integrated power recovery (104.39 mV). This study provides a new paradigm for robust, efficient, multifunctional solar evaporation systems.
Wu et al. (2026) studied this question.