Abstract
Desiccants play vital roles in dehumidification and atmospheric water harvesting; however, current desiccants have mediocre hygroscopicity, limited recyclability, and high energy consumption. Herein, we report a wood-inspired moisture pump based on electrospun nanofibrous membrane for solar-driven continuous indoor dehumidification. The developed moisture pump with multilayer wood-like cellular networks and interconnected open channels is composed of a desiccant layer and a photothermal layer. The desiccant layer exhibits an unprecedented moisture absorption capacity of 3.01 g g−1 at 90% relative humidity (RH), fast moisture absorption and transport rates, enabling atmospheric water harvesting. The photothermal layer shows a high solar absorption of 93%, efficient solar thermal conversion, and good moisture permeability, thus promoting water evaporation. The moisture pump efficiently reduces the indoor relative humidity to a comfort level (40‒60% RH) under one-sun illumination. This work opens the way to develop new-generation, high-performance nanofibrous membrane-based desiccants for energy-efficient humidity control and atmospheric water harvesting.
Highlights
Desiccants play vital roles in dehumidification and atmospheric water harvesting; current desiccants have mediocre hygroscopicity, limited recyclability, and high energy consumption
High-magnification scanning electron microscopy (SEM) image showed a single cell with a pore size of ~1 mm
The polyacrylonitrile/carbon black (PAN/CB) nanofibers were electrospun on the PAN/ MIL-101(Cr) (PAN/MIL)@LiCl nanofibrous substrate to construct the biomimetic bilayer PAN/MIL@LiClPAN/CB (PML-PC) nanofibrous membrane (NFM)
Summary
Desiccants play vital roles in dehumidification and atmospheric water harvesting; current desiccants have mediocre hygroscopicity, limited recyclability, and high energy consumption. This work opens the way to develop new-generation, high-performance nanofibrous membrane-based desiccants for energy-efficient humidity control and atmospheric water harvesting. The desiccant must be highly hygroscopic, recyclable, have a fast moisture absorption rate, and be capable of driving the phase transition from gaseous water to liquid water In this respect, metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) are attractive and promising due to their high-specific surface area and porosity, adjustable pore size, as well as a large number of hydrophilic active sites, thereby facilitating the rational design of the desired water sorption properties[18,19,20,21,22]. The synergistic effect of the MOF and LiCl as well as the nanofibrous structure make it possible to design NFMbased desiccants with superior hygroscopicity, fast moisture absorption–desorption rates, and superior recyclability
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