A Synergistic Approach to Atmospheric Water Scavenging

An abundant supply of fresh water is one of the leading challenges of the 21st century (UNESCO. The United Nations World Water Development Report 2018: Nature-Based Solutions for Water;UNESCO: Paris, France, 2018; p 154). Here we describe a new approach to scavenge atmospheric water that employs a hierarchically ordered porous material with embedded particles (Lash, M. H.; Jordan, J. C.; Blevins, L. C.; Fedorchak, M. V.; Little, S. R.; McCarthy, J. J.Non-Brownian Particle-Based Materials with Microscale and Nanoscale Hierarchy. Ang. Chem. Int. Ed.201554, 5854−5858). This composite uses structure to amplify native material performance to realize synergy between the capture and storage and to ultimately qualitatively change the adsorption behavior of the hydrogel (from unfavorable to favorable). In this way we can capture moisture at significantly lower relative humidities than would otherwise be feasible with the native materials. Not only does this approach pose the potential for a cheap and low-energy source of clean water but it could also be modified for application across a variety of condensable vapor reclamations.