Abstract Conventional solar-thermal desalination underutilizes the high-grade heat available from concentrating solar technologies, constraining exergy efficiency and high-salinity brine treatment. This Perspective explores supercritical solar desalination as a high-temperature pathway toward zero liquid discharge. We discuss how supercritical water properties reduce phase-change penalties, promote salt precipitation, and enable hybrid heat regeneration and power–water–salt cogeneration, offering guidance for next-generation solar desalination systems.
Zheng et al. (Wed,) studied this question.