Solar-powered porous polymer materials-enabled rapid atmospheric water harvesting and storage of liquid water

Abstract

Atmospheric water harvesting (AWH) is emerging as a promising strategy to produce fresh water from abundant airborne moisture to reduce the global clean water shortage. Hydrogels are considered attractive adsorbents due to their higher water retention and tunable polymer-water interactions. Here, we report the super hygroscopic polymer material (SHPMs) using modified NH2-MIL-101(Cr) as a functional crosslinker by copolymerization with acrylic acid and 2-Acrylamide-2-methylpropanesulfonic acid, achieving a water uptake of about 28.8–49.7 mg/g at 28–38 % RH. The material can desorption quickly under sunlight, and the desorbed water can be stored in a polymer skeleton for use by vegetation or crops during periods of water demand. Besides, the Water retention and storage performance and its outdoor experiment also proved that the application of this material in agriculture, forestry and desertification control laid the foundation to improve the effective availability of soil moisture and water harvesting and conservation. With its excellent water retention and atmospheric water harvesting performance, the material offers a sustainable method for rapid water extraction in arid climates.