Natural Fibers Enable Textile-Based Composite Sorbent for All-Day Atmospheric Water Harvesting

Abstract

Sorption-based atmospheric water harvesting (AWH) holds promise for on-demand water supply, yet combining high yield with fast kinetics remains challenging. Here, we present a hollow-fiber textile-supported composite sorbent and an integrated solar-powered water harvester. The composite sorbent is fabricated by embedding LiCl into a three-dimensionally oriented channel textile constructed from hollow Calotropis gigantea fibers. An airflow-assisted yarn assembly strategy is employed to form hollow-fiber yarns and further construct a three-dimensional textile with vertically aligned pore arrays. After LiCl integration, efficient water vapor sorption and rapid desorption are achieved. The sorbent attains water uptakes of 0.88, 1.39, and 2.34 g g⁻¹ at relative humidities of 15%, 30%, and 60%, respectively. The harvester integrates power generation, heating, and condensation. When coupled with a multicycle sorption–desorption strategy, it yields about 64 g day⁻¹ (5.19 g_water g⁻¹_sorbent day⁻¹). The operation forms an energy-autonomous loop where daytime solar electricity is generated and stored, powering nighttime desorption and condensation. This work establishes a textile-based platform that integrates structural advantages with solar energy utilization, enabling efficient and scalable AWH systems.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords

Natural hollow fibers / Airflow-driven self-assembly / Textile-based composite sorbent / Atmospheric water harvesting / Dual-cycle sorption strategy

References

[1] Pekel JF, Cottam A, Gorelick N, Belward AS. High-resolution mapping of global surface water and its long-term changes. Nature, 2016, 540: 418

[2] Tu YD, Wang RZ, Zhang YN, Wang JY. Progress and expectation of atmospheric water harvesting. Joule, 2018, 2: 1452

[3] Santos Pereira L, Cordery I, Iacovides ISantos Pereira L, Cordery I, Iacovides I. Water scarcity concepts. Coping with water scarcity: addressing the challenges, 2009DordrechtSpringer Netherlands7

[4] Shiklomanov IAWorld water resources: a new appraisal and assessment for the 21st century: a summary of the monograph world water resources, 1998ParisUNESCO2-15

[5] Oki T, Kanae S. Global hydrological cycles and world water resources. Science, 2006, 313: 1068-1072

[6] Kim HH, Yang SW, Rao SR, Narayanan S, Kapustin EA, Furukawa H, Umans AS, Yaghi OM, Wang EN. Water harvesting from air with metal–organic frameworks powered by natural sunlight. Science, 2017, 356: 430

[7] Ejeian M, Wang RZ. Adsorption-based atmospheric water harvesting. Joule, 2021, 5: 1678

[8] Gao SW, Wang Y, Zhang C, Jiang MN, Wang S, Wang ZK. Tailoring interfaces for atmospheric water harvesting: fundamentals and applications. Matter, 2023, 6: 2182

[9] Zou H, Yang X, Zhu JJ, Wang F, Zeng ZY, Xiang CJ, Huang DF, Li J, Wang RZ. Solar-driven scalable hygroscopic gel for recycling water from passive plant transpiration and soil evaporation. Nat Water, 2024, 2: 663

[10] Zhou XY, Lu HY, Zhao F, Yu GH. Atmospheric water harvesting: a review of material and structural designs. ACS Mater Lett, 2020, 2: 671

[11] Guo S, Zhang YX, Tan SC. Device design and optimization of sorption-based atmospheric water harvesters. Device, 2023, 1: 100099

[12] Cheng F, Li HB, Wei ZC, Zhou MJ, Lu HJ, Le QJ, Wang F, Du YJ, Yang L, Tan SC. Pathogen-free atmospheric water harvesting using a mussel-inspired wet-adhesive photothermal aerogel. Nat Water, 2026, 4: 348

[13] Heidari A, Roshandel R, Vakiloroaya V. An innovative solar assisted desiccant-based evaporative cooling system for co-production of water and cooling in hot and humid climates. Energy Convers Manag, 2019, 185: 396

[14] Krajnc A, Varlec J, Mazaj M, Ristić A, Logar NZ, Mali G. Superior performance of microporous aluminophosphate with LTA topology in solar-energy storage and heat reallocation. Adv Energy Mater, 2017, 7: 1601815

[15] Hanikel N, Prévot MS, Fathieh F, Kapustin EA, Lyu H, Wang HZ, Diercks NJ, Glover TG, Yaghi OM. Rapid cycling and exceptional yield in a metal–organic framework water harvester. ACS Cent Sci, 2019, 5: 1699

[16] An LC, Liu XT, Deng BW, Jiang HQ, Cheng GJ. Liquid metal nanolayer-linked MOF nanocomposites by laser shock evaporation. Matter, 2021, 4: 3977

[17] Zhao F, Zhou XY, Liu Y, Shi Y, Dai YF, Yu GH. Super moisture-absorbent gels for all-weather atmospheric water harvesting. Adv Mater, 2019, 31: 1806446

[18] Nandakumar DK, Zhang YX, Ravi SK, Guo N, Zhang C, Tan SC. Solar energy triggered clean water harvesting from humid air existing above sea surface enabled by a hydrogel with ultrahigh hygroscopicity. Adv Mater, 2019, 31: 1806730

[19] Yang JC, Zhang XP, Qu H, Yu ZG, Zhang YX, Eey TJ, Zhang YW, Tan SC. A moisture-hungry copper complex harvesting air moisture for potable water and autonomous urban agriculture. Adv Mater, 2020, 32: 2002936

[20] Yang JC, Zhang XP, Koh JJ, Deng RS, Kumarasamy S, Xu YX, Qu H, Zhang SL, Zhang YX, Tan SC. Reversible hydration composite films for evaporative perspiration control and heat stress management. Small, 2022, 18: 2107636

[21] Shan H, Poredoš P, Chen ZH, Yang XG, Ye ZY, Hu ZF, Wang RZ, Tan SC. Hygroscopic salt-embedded composite materials for sorption-based atmospheric water harvesting. Nat Rev Mater, 2024, 9: 699

[22] Li RY, Shi Y, Shi L, Alsaedi M, Wang P. Harvesting water from air: using anhydrous salt with sunlight. Environ Sci Technol, 2018, 52: 5398

[23] Li RY, Shi Y, Wu MC, Hong SH, Wang P. Photovoltaic panel cooling by atmospheric water sorption–evaporation cycle. Nat Sustain, 2020, 3: 636

[24] Shan H, Pan QW, Xiang CJ, Poredoš P, Ma QM, Ye ZY, Hou GD, Wang RZ. High-yield solar-driven atmospheric water harvesting with ultra-high salt content composites encapsulated in porous membrane. Cell Rep Phys Sci, 2021, 2: 100664

[25] Yang XG, Chen ZH, Xiang CJ, Shan H, Wang RZ. Enhanced continuous atmospheric water harvesting with scalable hygroscopic gel driven by natural sunlight and wind. Nat Commun, 2024, 15: 7678

[26] Dai M, Zhao F, Fan JJ, Li Q, Yang Y, Fan ZJ, Ling SJ, Yu HP, Liu SX, Li J, Chen WS, Yu GH. A nanostructured moisture-absorbing gel for fast and large-scale passive dehumidification. Adv Mater, 2022, 34: 2200865

[27] Lei CX, Guo YH, Guan WX, Lu HY, Shi W, Yu GH. Polyzwitterionic hydrogels for efficient atmospheric water harvesting. Angew Chem Int Ed, 2022, 61: e202200271

[28] Yu ZH, Li SH, Zhang JC, Tang CX, Qin ZQ, Liu XJ, Zhou ZJ, Lai YK, Fu SH. Phospholipid bilayer inspired sandwich structural nanofibrous membrane for atmospheric water harvesting and selective release. Nano Lett, 2024, 24: 2629

[29] He JT, Li N, Wang SX, Li S, Wang CF, Yu LM, Murto P, Xu XF. Hygroscopic photothermal beads from marine polysaccharides: demonstration of efficient atmospheric water production, indoor humidity control and photovoltaic panel cooling. J Mater Chem A, 2022, 10: 8556

[30] Aleid S, Wu MC, Li RY, Wang WB, Zhang CL, Zhang LB, Wang P. Salting-in effect of zwitterionic polymer hydrogel facilitates atmospheric water harvesting. ACS Mater Lett, 2022, 4: 511

[31] Wang MZ, Sun TM, Wan DH, Dai M, Ling SJ, Wang JL, Liu YQ, Fang Y, Xu SH, Yeo JJ, Yu HP, Liu SX, Wang QW, Li J, Yang Y, Fan ZJ, Chen WS. Solar-powered nanostructured biopolymer hygroscopic aerogels for atmospheric water harvesting. Nano Energy, 2021, 80: 105569

[32] Yang L, Nandakumar DK, Miao LQ, Suresh L, Zhang DW, Xiong T, Vaghasiya JV, Kwon KC, Tan SC. Energy harvesting from atmospheric humidity by a hydrogel-integrated ferroelectric-semiconductor system. Joule, 2020, 4: 176

[33] Nandakumar DK, Ravi SK, Zhang YX, Guo N, Zhang C, Tan SC. A super hygroscopic hydrogel for harnessing ambient humidity for energy conservation and harvesting. Energy Environ Sci, 2018, 11: 2179

[34] Rieth AJ, Yang SW, Wang EN, Dincă M. Record atmospheric fresh water capture and heat transfer with a material operating at the water uptake reversibility limit. ACS Cent Sci, 2017, 3: 668

[35] Kim HH, Rao SR, Kapustin EA, Zhao L, Yang SW, Yaghi OM, Wang EN. Adsorption-based atmospheric water harvesting device for arid climates. Nat Commun, 2018, 9: 1191

[36] Li RY, Shi Y, Wu MC, Hong SH, Wang P. Improving atmospheric water production yield: enabling multiple water harvesting cycles with nano sorbent. Nano Energy, 2020, 67: 1055

[37] Zhang ZB, Wang YJ, Li Z, Fu H, Huang JY, Xu ZW, Lai YK, Qian XM, Zhang SN. Sustainable hierarchical-pored PAAS–PNIPAAm hydrogel with core–shell structure tailored for highly efficient atmospheric water harvesting. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces, 2022, 14: 55295

[38] Shan H, Li CF, Chen ZH, Ying WJ, Poredoš P, Ye ZY, Pan QW, Wang JY, Wang RZ. Exceptional water production yield enabled by batch-processed portable water harvester in semi-arid climate. Nat Commun, 2022, 13: 5406

[39] Xu JX, Li TX, Yan TS, Wu S, Wu MQ, Chao JW, Huo XY, Wang PF, Wang RZ. Ultrahigh solar-driven atmospheric water production enabled by scalable rapid-cycling water harvester with vertically aligned nanocomposite sorbent. Energy Environ Sci, 2021, 14: 5979

[40] Guan WX, Lei CX, Guo YH, Shi W, Yu GH. Hygroscopic-microgels-enabled rapid water extraction from arid air. Adv Mater, 2024, 36: 2207786

[41] Wang J, Shi QQ, Li CJ, Zhang YZ, Du SY, Mao JF, Wang J. Pistia-inspired photothermal fabric based on waste carbon fiber for low-cost vapor generation: an industrialization route. Adv Funct Mater, 2022, 32: 2201922

[42] Zhou MJ, Zhang SL, Guo HY, Zhou XC, Xu JH, Luo QL, Li XS, Xu QL, Xiong CD, Wang RW, Fan JT, Qin XH, Tan SC. Ultralight electrospun composite filters with vertical ternary spatial network for high-performance PM0.3 purification. Adv Mater, 2025, 37: 2419389

[43] Chen YML, Yang S, Wang ZX, Elimelech M. Transforming membrane distillation to a membraneless fabric distillation for desalination. Nat Water, 2024, 2: 52

[44] Li TX, Yan TS, Wang PF, Xu JX, Huo XY, Bai ZY, Shi W, Yu GH, Wang RZ. Scalable and efficient solar-driven atmospheric water harvesting enabled by bidirectionally aligned and hierarchically structured nanocomposites. Nat Water, 2023, 1: 971

[45] Shan H, Poredoš P, Ye ZY, Qu H, Zhang YX, Zhou MJ, Wang RZ, Tan SC. All-day multicyclic atmospheric water harvesting enabled by polyelectrolyte hydrogel with hybrid desorption mode. Adv Mater, 2023, 35: 2302038

[46] Fathieh F, Kalmutzki MJ, Kapustin EA, Waller PJ, Yang JJ, Yaghi OM. Practical water production from desert air. Sci Adv, 2018, 4: eaat3198

[47] Wu MC, Li RY, Shi Y, Altunkaya M, Aleid S, Zhang CL, Wang WB, Wang P. Metal- and halide-free, solid-state polymeric water vapor sorbents for efficient water-sorption-driven cooling and atmospheric water harvesting. Mater Horiz, 2021, 8: 1518

[48] Zhang XP, Qu H, Li XY, Zhang LN, Zhang YX, Yang JC, Zhou MJ, Suresh L, Liu SQ, Tan SC. Autonomous atmospheric water harvesting over a wide RH range enabled by super hygroscopic composite aerogels. Adv Mater, 2024, 36: 2310219

[49] Sun JJ, Ni F, Gu JC, Si MQ, Liu DP, Zhang C, Shui XX, Xiao P, Chen T. Entangled mesh hydrogels with macroporous topologies via cryogelation for rapid atmospheric water harvesting. Adv Mater, 2024, 36: 2314175

Funding

Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities(2232025D-12)

Key Research and Development Special Task Project of Xinjiang(2024B04004-3)

National Natural Science Foundation of China(12172087)

Singapore Ministry of Education Academic Research Fund Tier 1(A-0009304-00-00)

Shanghai Frontier Science Research Center for Modern Textiles, Donghua University(X11012102-004)

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

Donghua University, Shanghai, China