Progress of photothermal membrane distillation for decentralized desalination: A review

The conventional membrane distillation (MD) process is accompanied by large energy consumption, low thermal efficiency and inevitable requirements of centralized infrastructures, which impede its practical applications, especially in the offshore and remote off-grid areas. Thanks to the rapid development of efficient photothermal materials over the last decade, a new photothermal membrane distillation (PMD) process has emerged to harness …