Yes, in a 2017 proof of concept, researchers used sunlight to evaporate seawater and generate a small amount of electricity from the salt concentration difference that evaporation created. The device also produced desalinated water, but the published reports do not establish that it met drinking-water standards or was ready for commercial use.
How could one device make water and electricity?
The system coupled solar-driven evaporation with salinity-gradient power. A light-absorbing surface heated seawater, encouraging water to evaporate there. Salt remained behind, making the water at the surface more concentrated than the seawater below. That difference in salt concentration—rather than desalination by itself—powered the electrical generation.
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Yang and colleagues built the proof-of-concept using carbon-nanotube-modified filter paper as the solar absorber above a commercial Nafion membrane. The membrane selectively enabled ion transport. As Jun Zhou, the study leader, explained: “It only allows positive ions to go through, which induces a charge imbalance on the two sides – generating an electrical potential as well as current from redox reactions at the electrodes.”
The two processes therefore shared the same setup: solar heat drove evaporation, while the resulting salt gradient across the ion-selective membrane generated electrical potential and current. The work was reported in Energy & Environmental Science in 2017; Chemistry World’s 2017 report described the tested device as 100 cm².
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What did the researchers report?
Under one-sun illumination, Yang and colleagues reported about 1 W m−2 of additional electrical power and a maximum solar thermal efficiency of up to 75%. They also gave a theoretical real-time salinity-power estimate of 12.5 W m−2 during steam production under the same illumination. That theoretical estimate is not the extra electrical output measured from the setup.
The distinction matters: the prototype’s reported additional electrical power was about 1 W m−2, not 12.5 W m−2. The figures describe a small proof of concept under specified illumination, not a commercial-scale system or a prediction of output in every operating environment. The study’s reported results are summarized in the original 2017 paper in Energy & Environmental Science.
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How does that compare with solar panels?
Doriano Brogioli, a University of Bremen researcher working on salinity-gradient energy, called the device’s 1 W m−2 power density “relatively good,” but said it was small compared with solar panels, which he cited at 10–20 W m−2. That comparison was his comment in Chemistry World’s 2017 coverage, not an independent measurement of the prototype or a like-for-like test of the two technologies.
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What remains uncertain?
The reports establish a laboratory research demonstration, not a retail-ready desalination-and-power device. They do not establish current commercial deployment, field performance, long-duration operation, certified drinking-water quality, or a comprehensive lifecycle assessment. The water should therefore be described as produced or desalinated water, not as certified potable water.
Brogioli also questioned whether the approach would be practical because the silver electrodes are consumed during operation, warning that silver dissolution could pollute the water. That is an expert’s stated concern in the 2017 report; the available coverage does not provide a measured contamination result or a full assessment of electrode replacement and water quality.
For any future comparison with solar stills, photovoltaic-powered desalination, or other salinity-gradient systems, the relevant evidence would include freshwater yield and water-quality testing, net electrical output under stated conditions, device area and operating duration, membrane and electrode materials, and whether testing was in a laboratory or field deployment. The cited reports do not offer consistent comparative data to rank those approaches.
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