V.-D. Dao

Water evaporation-based energy harvesting systems have garnered significant attention due to the abundance of water resources and their intriguing interactions with carbon-based materials, known as the hydrovoltaic effect [1], [2]. These power generators produce electricity by utilizing a liquid electrolyte that flows through narrow capillary channels within porous carbon-based materials, such as carbon nanotubes, graphene, fullerene, and carbon black, generating a streaming current [3].

Freshwater scarcity has become increasingly serious as a rapidly growing population and industrialization in today’s society [1], [2]. Seawater desalination has become an effective way to produce freshwater, and a lot of techniques have been proposed, such as distillation, multistage and reverse osmosis. However, the high consumption of fossil energy, complex operation processes and accumulation of organic pollutants have restricted their application in practice [3], [4], [5], [6].

Introduction With the rapid development of economy in today's society, due to the rapid increase in population and the rapid development of industrialization [1], the problems of water pollution and the shortage of fresh water resources have become more prominent, and the shortage of fresh water resources has become a global problem [2], [3]. China is a maritime power, and the effective development and utilization of seawater can be used as an important supplementary source of freshwater [4].