All-in-one hybrid atmospheric water harvesting for all-day water production by natural sunlight and radiative cooling

Abstract

Extracting water from air is a promising method to solve the global challenge of water scarcity. Sorption-based atmospheric water harvesting (S-AWH) has the capability of all-weather water production from air under arid or humid climates. However, high energy consumption and low water production are two long-standing bottlenecks to realizing efficient S-AWH. Herein, we propose a low-carbon sustainable strategy for atmospheric water generation by synergistically harvesting heat from natural sunlight for water desorption and cold from the universe for water condensation. The synergistic effects of transmittance-type radiative cooling membranes enable the hybrid AWH to realize efficient S-AWH by lowering water condensation temperature in the daytime and providing extra water production in the nighttime. Notably, the hybrid AWH device exhibits water productivity of up to 3654 g m⁻² day⁻¹. This work offers an energy-efficient method for all-day atmospheric water generation by synergistically harvesting energy from sunlight and sky radiative cooling.