Abstract: Devices for the evaporation of liquid, in particular water, have an evaporation mat which is wetted with the liquid and on which the liquid evaporates. The evaporation mat comprises a textile fabric (1) having fibres, wherein the surface of the fibres is coated with a covering (2) which comprises a cured reaction product of a polyamine and a polyalkylene glycol etherified with end groups of the structure X—CH2[CH(OR)]wCH2—, in which structure w is an integer from 0 to 1 and, when w is 0, X is a halogen, and, when w is 1, X is halogen and R is hydrogen, or X and R together are —O—. Preferably, the evaporation mat is a consolidated nonwoven which contains fibres made of a synthetic thermoplastic which are bonded to one another by means of a thermoplastic hotmelt glue at their intersection points. The devices are used for air humidification, for concentrating solutions, or for evaporative cooling.