According to a report by the South China Morning Post, traditional desalination methods require heavy energy input and are typically limited to wealthier countries due to high operational costs and environmental impact linked to fossil fuel use.

The new prototype, developed by scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Shenzhen University, is designed to operate for up to a year without external energy input. Instead, it relies solely on solar radiation to drive the desalination process.

Researchers achieved this by engineering a novel photothermal material. The system uses nano-scale particles arranged in a three-dimensional structure, significantly improving the efficiency of sunlight absorption and heat conversion needed to remove salt from seawater.

During experiments, the material absorbed about 90.2% of incoming solar heat, while reducing the energy requirement for desalination by 45.7%.

In a small-scale field trial, the system was used to produce freshwater for agricultural purposes. The solar-powered device supplied water for a 5-square-meter farming area over several weeks, without requiring any electricity input.

Scientists involved in the project said the cost of producing water through this method dropped below the price of bottled drinking water. They also suggested that scaling up the technology could further reduce costs and make freshwater production more accessible in water-scarce regions.

If successfully deployed on a larger scale, the innovation could offer a low-cost, energy-efficient solution to global freshwater shortages, particularly in coastal and arid regions.