Issue 25, 2024

Rapid solar-driven atmospheric water-harvesting with MAF-4-derived nitrogen-doped nanoporous carbon

Abstract

Sorption-based atmospheric water-harvesting (AWH) could help to solve global freshwater scarcity. The search for adsorbents with high water-uptake capacity at low relative humidity, rapid adsorption–desorption kinetics and high thermal conductivity is a critical challenge in AWH. Herein, we report a MAF-4 (aka ZIF-8)-derived nanoporous carbon (NPCMAF-4-800) with multiple N-doped sites, considerable micropore characteristics and inherent photothermal properties, for efficient water production in a relatively arid climate. NPCMAF-4-800 exhibited optimal water-sorption performance of 306 mg g−1 at 40% relative humidity (RH). An excellent sunlight-absorption rate was realized (97%) attributed to its high degree of graphitization. A proof-of-concept device was designed and investigated for the practical harvesting of water from the atmosphere using natural sunlight. NPCMAF-4-800 achieved an unprecedentedly high water production rate of 380 mg g−1 h−1 at 40% RH, and could produce 1.77 L kg−1 freshwater during daylight hours in an outdoor low-humidity climate of ∼25 °C and 40% RH. These findings may shed light on the potential of MOF-derived porous carbons in the AWH field, and inspire the future development of solar-driven water-generation systems.

Graphical abstract: Rapid solar-driven atmospheric water-harvesting with MAF-4-derived nitrogen-doped nanoporous carbon

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
18 Mar 2024
Accepted
09 May 2024
First published
11 May 2024
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Chem. Sci., 2024,15, 9557-9565

Rapid solar-driven atmospheric water-harvesting with MAF-4-derived nitrogen-doped nanoporous carbon

J. Feng, F. Lu, Z. Chen, M. Jia, Y. Chen, W. Lin, Q. Wu, Y. Li, M. Xue and X. Chen, Chem. Sci., 2024, 15, 9557 DOI: 10.1039/D4SC01802H

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