Simultaneous atmospheric water production and 24-hour power generation enabled by moisture-induced energy harvesting.

Li, Tingxian; Wu, Minqiang; Xu, Jiaxing; Du, Ruxue; Yan, Taisen; Wang, Pengfei; Bai, Zhaoyuan; Wang, Ruzhu et al. · Nat Commun · 2022

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Water and electricity scarcity are two global challenges, especially in arid and remote areas. Harnessing ubiquitous moisture and sunlight for water and power generation is a sustainable route to address these challenges. Herein, we report a moisture-induced energy harvesting strategy to realize efficient sorption-based atmospheric water harvesting (SAWH) and 24-hour thermoelectric power generation (TEPG) by synergistically utilizing moisture-induced sorption/desorption heats of SAWH, solar energy in the daytime and radiative cooling in the nighttime. Notably, the synergistic effects significantly improve all-day thermoelectric power density (~346%) and accelerate atmospheric water harvesting compared with conventional designs. We further demonstrate moisture-induced energy harvesting for a hybrid SAWH-TEPG device, exhibiting high water production of 750 g m<sup>-2</sup>, together with impressive thermoelectric power density up to 685 mW m<sup>-2</sup> in the daytime and 21 mW m<sup>-2</sup> in the nighttime. Our work provides a promising approach to realizing sustainable water production and power generation at anytime and anywhere.