Dragon blood tree-inspired biomimetic design of multifunctional evaporator as a modularization “factory” for production of uranium, pure water and sea salts

Simultaneously addressing global freshwater and energy resource scarcities demands the development of advanced multifunctional materials. However, integrating solar-driven desalination with the selective extraction of strategic resources like uranium in a single, durable platform remains a significant challenge due to functional interference and heat loss issues. Here, we report a Dragon Blood Tree-inspired bilayer evaporator (PCZC) constructed from a PPy@CF photothermal layer and a ZnO@CF adsorption layer, vertically supported by a cotton fiber “stem.” This unique “crown-stem” bionic architecture mimics the functional compartmentalization of Dracaena cinnabari , elevating the functional layers from the bulk water to minimize conductive heat loss while enabling directional transport of water, ions, and vapor. The resulting evaporator exhibits remarkable multifunctionality: it achieves a high solar evaporation efficiency of 98.0% at 7-day average evaporation rate of 1.64 kg m −2  h −1 , and for resource recovery, it attains a uranium adsorption capacity of 7.63 mg g −1 , which remains stable over 5 consecutive days of solar-driven operation. Furthermore, it demonstrates an significant uranium desorption efficiency of 87.5% and a high salt recovery rate of 100.64 g m −2  h −1 . The spatial partitioning of the crown-stem structure not only prevents cross-contamination and surface fouling but also enhances the system's operational durability. This work offers a novel biomimetic strategy based on “structural cooperation” to construct multifunctional platforms, presenting a promising candidate for sustainable and comprehensive seawater resource utilization.