Song Yan, Zeng Mengyue, Wang Xueyang, Shi Peiru, Fei Minfei, Zhu Jia
National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Artificial Functional Materials and Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210008, P. R. China.
Adv Mater. 2024 Mar;36(12):e2209134. doi: 10.1002/adma.202209134. Epub 2023 May 28.
Harvesting water from air in sorption-based devices is a promising solution to decentralized water production, aiming for providing potable water anywhere, anytime. This technology involves a series of coupled processes occurring at distinct length scales, ranging from nanometer to meter and even larger, including water sorption/desorption at the nanoscale, condensation at the mesoscale, device development at the macroscale and water scarcity assessment at the global scale. Comprehensive understanding and bespoke designs at every scale are thus needed to improve the water-harvesting performance. For this purpose, a brief introduction of the global water crisis and its key characteristics is provided to clarify the impact potential and design criteria of water harvesters. Next the latest molecular-level optimizations of sorbents for efficient moisture capture and release are discussed. Then, novel microstructuring of surfaces to enhance dropwise condensation, which is favorable for atmospheric water generation, is shown. After that, system-level optimizations of sorbent-assisted water harvesters to achieve high-yield, energy-efficient, and low-cost water harvesting are highlighted. Finally, future directions toward practical sorption-based atmospheric water harvesting are outlined.
在基于吸附的设备中从空气中收集水分是分散式水生产的一种很有前景的解决方案，旨在随时随地提供饮用水。这项技术涉及一系列在不同长度尺度上发生的耦合过程，从纳米到米甚至更大，包括纳米尺度的水吸附/解吸、中尺度的凝结、宏观尺度的设备开发以及全球尺度的水资源短缺评估。因此，需要在每个尺度上进行全面理解和定制设计，以提高集水性能。为此，本文简要介绍了全球水危机及其关键特征，以阐明集水器的潜在影响和设计标准。接下来讨论了用于高效水分捕获和释放的吸附剂的最新分子水平优化。然后展示了用于增强滴状凝结的新型表面微结构，这有利于大气水的生成。之后重点介绍了吸附剂辅助集水器的系统级优化，以实现高产、节能和低成本的集水。最后概述了基于吸附的大气水收集技术走向实际应用的未来方向。
