Huang Zhihao, Zhang Tao, Ju Aiming, Xu Zhiguang, Zhao Yan
College of Textile and Clothing Engineering, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China.
Jiangsu Engineering Research Center of Textile Dyeing and Printing for Energy Conservation, Discharge Reduction and Cleaner Production, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China.
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2024 Apr 3;16(13):16893-16902. doi: 10.1021/acsami.4c01888. Epub 2024 Mar 25.
Hygroscopic composites based on hygroscopic salts and hydrogels are promising for atmospheric water harvesting (AWH), but their relatively low water production and possible salt leakage hinder real applications. Here, we report highly hygroscopic and leakage-free composites from loading LiCl into emulsion-templated sodium alginate and poly(vinyl alcohol) hydrogels with macroporous structures and interpenetrating polymer networks. The resulting composites exhibited an enhanced moisture uptake (up to 3.4 g g) and leakage-free behavior even at an extremely high relative humidity (RH) of 90%. Moreover, the composites showed accelerated adsorption, with high adsorption (0.803 g g water at 25 °C and 90% RH within 1 h) and desorption due to the emulsion-templated, highly interconnected macropores. The hygroscopic composites obtained 1.12 g g water per adsorption-desorption collection cycle and showed high reusability, without obvious deterioration in adsorption, desorption, and collection after 10 cycles. With the presence of carbon nanotubes, solar-driven AWH could be realized, without the requirement of additional energy. The highly hygroscopic and leakage-free composites with enhanced and accelerated adsorption and desorption are excellent candidates for efficient AWH.
基于吸湿盐和水凝胶的吸湿复合材料在大气水收集（AWH）方面具有广阔前景，但其相对较低的产水量和可能的盐泄漏阻碍了实际应用。在此，我们报道了通过将LiCl负载到具有大孔结构和互穿聚合物网络的乳液模板化海藻酸钠和聚乙烯醇水凝胶中制备的高吸湿且无泄漏的复合材料。所得复合材料表现出增强的吸湿能力（高达3.4 g/g），即使在90%的极高相对湿度（RH）下也无泄漏现象。此外，由于乳液模板化的高度互连大孔，复合材料显示出加速吸附，具有高吸附量（在25°C和90%RH下1小时内吸附0.803 g/g水）和解吸能力。这种吸湿复合材料在每个吸附-解吸收集循环中可获得1.12 g/g水，并且具有高可重复使用性，在10个循环后吸附、解吸和收集性能无明显下降。在碳纳米管存在的情况下，无需额外能量即可实现太阳能驱动的AWH。这种具有增强和加速吸附和解吸能力的高吸湿且无泄漏的复合材料是高效AWH的理想候选材料。
