Hydrogel-Based Materials: Solar Evaporators, Desalination, Thermal Management, Adsorption
A special issue of Gels (ISSN 2310-2861). This special issue belongs to the section "Gel Applications".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 August 2027 | Viewed by 178
Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
This Special Issue explores cutting-edge advancements in hydrogel-based materials and highlights their transformative potential in atmospheric water harvesting, solar evaporation, desalination, thermal management, adsorption, and absorption technologies. It focuses on innovative material designs and functional hydrogels that enhance solar absorption, water transport, photothermal conversion, and evaporation efficiency under natural sunlight. Key themes include multifunctional evaporator architectures, anti-fouling and salt-resistant properties, and applications in sustainable freshwater production and low-energy thermal regulation. Moreover, this Special Issue welcomes studies on hydrogel-enabled adsorption and absorption processes for ions, oil mist, dyes, and other pollutants, demonstrating their broad utility in water purification and environmental remediation. These studies collectively demonstrate the versatility, scalability, and environmental benefits of hydrogel-driven evaporation, adsorption and absorption technologies, offering promising solutions to global challenges such as water scarcity, energy sustainability and pollution control.
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
- Novel hydrogel materials with enhanced photothermal properties;
- Design and fabrication of scalable hydrogel evaporators;
- Salt-rejection and anti-fouling strategies in solar desalination;
- Interfacial solar evaporation for freshwater generation;
- Thermal management applications of hydrogel-based cooling systems;
- Multifunctional evaporators for simultaneous desalination and power generation;
- Environmental and economic impacts of hydrogel-driven evaporation systems;
- Machine learning-assisted design and optimization of hydrogel evaporators;
- Integration of hydrogel evaporators with industrial and agricultural processes;
- Atmospheric water harvesting using hydrogel-based systems;
- Ion adsorption for water softening and purification;
- Oil-mist absorption and separation technologies;
- Dye adsorption for wastewater treatment;
- Water purification and pollution remediation using hydrogels.
We invite original research articles, reviews, and perspectives that explore innovative hydrogel-based materials.
We look forward to your contributions and to advancing this exciting field together.
Dr. Songnan Zhang
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Gels is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
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Keywords
- hydrogel evaporators
- solar-driven desalination
- brine resistance
- water-electricity cogeneration
- photothermal materials
- thermal management
- atmospheric water harvesting
- ions adsorption
- oil-mist absorption
- dye absorption
- water purification
- water pollution remediation
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