Structure-Property Relationships of Hydrogel-based Atmospheric Water Harvesting Systems

Atmospheric water harvesting (AWH) is considered one of the promising technologies to alleviate the uneven-distribution of water resources and water scarcity in arid regions of the world. Hydrogel-based AWH materials are currently attracting increasing attention due to their low cost, high energy efficiency and simple preparation. However, there is a knowledge gap in the screening of hydrogel-based AWH materials in terms of structure-property relationships, which may increase the cost of trial and error in research and fabrication. In this study, we synthesised a variety of hydrogel-based AWH materials, characterized their physochemcial properties visualized the electrostatic potential of polymer chains, and ultimately established the structure-property-application relationships of polymeric AWH materials. Poly(2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propanesulfonic acid) (PAMPS) hydrogel is able to achieve an excellent water adsorption capacity of 0.62 g g^-1 and a high water desorption efficiency of more than 90 % in relatively low-moderate humidity environments, which is regarded as one of the polymer materials with potential for future AWH applications.