{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,5]],"date-time":"2026-10-05T05:52:42Z","timestamp":1791179562026,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":50,"publisher":"Wiley","issue":"10","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,4]],"date-time":"2026-10-04T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1791072000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":3,"URL":"http:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/termsAndConditions#vor"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,1]],"date-time":"2026-10-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1790812800000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/doi.wiley.com\/10.1002\/tdm_license_1.1"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["onlinelibrary.wiley.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Water Environment Research"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,10]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>ABSTRACT<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>The growing demand for critical minerals has increased interest in developing more efficient and sustainable technologies for mineral recovery from natural and industrial brines. Conventional solar evaporation ponds remain widely used for brine mineral recovery while can be constrained by slow evaporation rates, long processing cycles, and substantial land requirements. Interfacial solar evaporation (ISE), which localizes solar energy at the water\u2010air interface, offers a promising approach to accelerate brine concentration and potentially facilitate mineral separation, extraction and recovery. However, translating ISE from laboratory\u2010scale demonstrations to practical brine mining remains challenging, particularly because realistic brines contain high salinity and complex ionic compositions that can substantially affect water transport, salt crystallization, and evaporation performance. This perspective discusses recent advances and future opportunities for promoting the application of ISE technologies in brine treatment and mineral recovery. We highlight the development of salt\u2010resistant interfacial solar evaporators, emerging strategies for selective mineral extraction and crystallization, and the critical effects of multivalent ions and complex brine compositions on evaporation performance. Future opportunities should focus on developing scalable and durable ISE systems that can maintain stable performance under realistic outdoor conditions. Advances in system engineering and long\u2010term field validation will be important for translating ISE from laboratory\u2010scale studies toward practical brine treatment and critical mineral recovery.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1002\/wer.70620","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,5]],"date-time":"2026-10-05T05:18:36Z","timestamp":1791177516000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Development of Interfacial Solar Evaporation Technologies for Brine Treatment and Mineral Recovery"],"prefix":"10.1002","volume":"98","author":[{"given":"Mingyang","family":"Song","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Energy, Environmental and Chemical Engineering Washington University in St. Louis  St. Louis Missouri USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3894-9583","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Kaichao","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Advanced Environmental Technology, School of Environment University of Science and Technology of China  Hefei China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"311","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,4]]},"reference":[{"issue":"6","key":"e_1_2_11_2_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2856","DOI":"10.1039\/D1TA09288J","article-title":"A Bioinspired 3D Solar Evaporator With Balanced Water Supply and Evaporation for Highly Efficient Photothermal Steam Generation","volume":"10","author":"Bu Y.","year":"2022","journal-title":"Journal of Materials Chemistry A"},{"issue":"3","key":"e_1_2_11_3_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"683","DOI":"10.1016\/j.joule.2018.12.023","article-title":"Challenges and Opportunities for Solar Evaporation","volume":"3","author":"Chen C.","year":"2019","journal-title":"Joule"},{"issue":"9","key":"e_1_2_11_4_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"808","DOI":"10.1038\/s44221-023-00131-3","article-title":"Spatially Separated Crystallization for Selective Lithium Extraction From Saline Water","volume":"1","author":"Chen X.","year":"2023","journal-title":"Nature Water"},{"issue":"1","key":"e_1_2_11_5_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"45","DOI":"10.2175\/106143017X15131012187980","article-title":"Sustainability Metrics for Assessing Water Resource Recovery Facilities of the Future","volume":"91","author":"Cornejo P. 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