Interfacial Solar Heating Assisted Liquid Sorbent Atmospheric Water Generator

With the rapid development of human society and economy,the consumption of clean water and the serious pollution to the ecosystem make human beings face an unprecedented water crisis.According to the report,about two-thirds of the world's population(4 billion people)in the space of a year at least a month of life under the condition of moderate water shortages,Even worse,783 million people are not directly visible way to get clean drinking water,need to spend more than 200 million hours a day to get the life need of clean water,especially in rural or underdeveloped areas water shortage situation is particularly serious.However,the atmospheric water is considered a huge renewable reservoir of water.Harvesting water from air is a promising strategy for fresh-water production due to its high dew point,high energy utilization and flexible device,and it is particularly desirable for areas that lack direct access to clean water.Recently,there is a renewed interest to harvest atmospheric water using sorption methods.While solid sorbents such as anhydrous salt,hybrid hydrogel,silica gel,zeolite,activated alumina,clay,metal-organic framework,have been heavily investigated for water harvesting,liquid sorbents with high capability of sorption also possess many other advantages in terms of durability,system continuity and cost.However,the usage of liquid sorption materials has been primarily limited by the desorption process.As the concentration of liquid sorbent increases,the vaporization enthalpy of liquid sorbent increases,which also increases the energy barrier for desorption.Herein,we applied interfacial solar heating into the field of atmospheric water generators to enable high performance atmospheric water generator(AWG)based on high concentration liquid sorbent(Ca Cl2 50 wt% solution)and a salt-resistant GO-based aerogel.Fresh water(2.89 kg m-2 day-1)can be produced at about 70% relative humidity,with only solar energy input and energy efficiency of desorption as high as 66.9%.This low-cost and effective approach provides an attractive pathway to extract water from air,to relieve the thirst of arid,land-locked,and other areas where fresh water is scarce.