Intrinsic Water Transport in Moisture-Capturing Hydrogels.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 38437505.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1021/acs.nanolett.3c04191 and PMC identifier 10996070.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Moisture-capturing hydrogels have emerged as attractive sorbent materials capable of converting ambient humidity into liquid water. Recent works have demonstrated exceptional water capture capabilities of hydrogels while simultaneously exploring different strategies to accelerate water capture and release. However, on the material level, an understanding of the intrinsic transport properties of moisture-capturing hydrogels is currently missing, which hinders their rational design. In this work, we combine absorption and desorption experiments of macroscopic hydrogel samples in pure vapor with models of water diffusion in the hydrogels to demonstrate the first measurements of the intrinsic water diffusion coefficient in hydrogel-salt composites. Based on these insights, we pattern hydrogels with micropores to significantly decrease the required absorption and desorption times by 19% and 72%, respectively, while reducing the total water capacity of the hydrogel by only 4%. Thereby, we provide an effective strategy toward hydrogel material optimization, with a particular significance in pure-vapor environments.