Heterogeneous wettability and radiative cooling for efficient deliquescent sorbents-based atmospheric water harvesting

Atmospheric water harvesting (AWH) is an emerging approach to solve the worldwide water crisis. Metal-organic frameworks and hydrogels have been extensively explored as sorbents for AWH; however, they suffer from relatively low water sorption capacity in arid conditions, a feature innately owned by a common material: deliquescent sorbents. Deliquescent sorbents are, however, limited by inevitable water leakage and restricted capacity. Here, we develop an efficient AWH approach that achieves an excellent water harvesting capacity of 2.62 g/g even in arid conditions by designing devices consisting of a superhydrophilic inside matrix loaded with deliquescent sorbents for efficient water adsorption, superhydrophobic and elastic fibrous skin for adaptative expansion, and water leakage prevention. The fibrous skin also exhibits a preferred radiative cooling effect, extending effective humidity and sorption capacity. The all-in-one design that combines heterogeneous wettability, radiative cooling, and elasticity-induced adaptivity opens a new route for addressing water challenges in a wide range of working conditions.