Enhanced continuous atmospheric water harvesting with scalable hygroscopic gel driven by natural sunlight and wind

Abstract

Abstract Sorption-based atmospheric water harvesting (SAWH) has received unprecedented attention as a future water and energy platform. However, the water productivity of SAWH systems is still constrained by the slow sorption kinetics at material and component levels and inefficient condensation. Here, we report a facile method to prepare hygroscopic interconnected porous gel (HIPG) with fast sorption-desorption kinetics, high scalability and stability, and strong adhesion property for highly efficient SAWH. We further design a solar-wind coupling driven SAWH device with collaborative heat and mass enhancement achieving continuous water production. Concentrated sunlight contributes to enhancing the desorption and condensation synergistically, and natural wind is introduced to drive the device operation and improve the sorption kinetics. The device demonstrated record high working performance of 14.9 Lwater m−2 day−1 and thermal efficiency of 25.7% in indoor experiments and 3.5–8.9 Lwater m−2 day−1 in outdoor experiments by solar concentration without any other energy consumption. This work provides an up-and-coming pathway to realize highly efficient and sustainable clean water supply for off-grid and arid regions.