Sustainable Hierarchical-Pored PAAS-PNIPAAm Hydrogel with Core-Shell Structure Tailored for Highly Efficient Atmospheric Water Harvesting

As an effective way to obtain freshwater resources, atmospheric water harvesting (AWH) technology has been a wide concern of researchers. Therefore, hydrogels gradually become key materials for atmospheric water harvesters due to their high specific surface area and three-dimensional porous structure. Here, we construct a core-shell hydrogel-based atmospheric water harvesting material consisting of a shell sodium polyacrylate (PAAS) hydrogel with an open pore structure and a core thermosensitive poly N-isopropylacrylamide (PNIPAAm) hydrogel with a large pore size. Theoretically, the mutual synergistic hygroscopic effect between the core layer and the shell layer accelerates the capture, transport, and storage of moisture to achieve continuous and high-capacity moisture adsorption. Simultaneously, the integration of polydopamine (PDA) with the hydrogel realizes solar-driven photothermal evaporation. Therefore, the prepared core-shell hydrogel material possesses great advantages in water adsorption capacity and water desorption capacity with an adsorption of 2.76 g g-1 (90% RH) and a desorption of 1.42 kg m-2 h-1. Additionally, the core-shell structure hydrogel collects 1.31 g g-1 day-1 of fresh water in outdoor experiments, which verifies that this core-shell hydrogel with integrated photothermal properties can capture moisture in a wide range of humidity without any external energy consumption, can further sustainably obtain fresh water in remote water-shortage areas.

Automated summary

As an effective method for obtaining freshwater resources, atmospheric water harvesting technology has attracted extensive attention from researchers. In this study, a core-shell hydrogel material with high moisture adsorption and desorption capacity, as well as integrated photothermal properties, was successfully constructed. This material can capture moisture in a wide range of humidity levels, making it a sustainable solution for freshwater supply in remote water-shortage areas.