Bio-Inspired Core-Shell Structural Aerogel with Programmable Water Release Capacity for Efficient Solar Thermoelectricity-Freshwater Cogeneration

Atmospheric water harvesting (AWH) offers an appealing way to mitigate the shortage of clean water. Despite the significant advances of AWH, unexpected sorbent leakage and inferior waste heat management are two long-standing bottlenecks for its practical application. Herein, a core-shell structural cellulose nanofiber aerogel (Core-Shell@CNF) is proposed by loading the lithium chloride (LiCl) in the hydrophilic core and confining it in the hydrophobic shell. The distinct wettability difference between the core (hydrophilic) and shell (hydrophobic) allows the programable free transport of the water molecules but prevents the leakage of the LiCl solution, achieving continuable and recyclable water sorption/desorption. Moreover, Core-Shell@CNF exhibits fast sorption–desorption kinetics enabled by the vertically aligned pores of the CNF matrix as water molecules transfer channels, about 1.16 g g-1 at 25°C and 90% relative humidity. This elaborately core-shell structural design provides a new pathway for the low-cost and promising strategy in efficient solar thermoelectricity-freshwater cogeneration.