Atmospheric
water harvesting is considered to be a promising technology
to address the global water shortage. However, researchers are still
searching for optimized desiccants with all of the desired features,
such as high water sorption capacity, low desorption temperature,
wide light spectrum absorption, ease to scale up, and low cost. Here,
we modified sodium alginate by occupying both G-blocks and M-blocks
with more hydrophilic cations (i.e., Li and Ca). Functionalized carbon
nanotubes (FCNTs) are embedded in the hydrogel structure to increase
solar spectrum absorption. In summary, these features enable binary
composite to adsorb ∼5.6 g of water per gram of desiccant.
For the first time, the idea of rational combination of a binary hydrophilic
polymeric salt was embodied. We believe that this binary/FCNT sorbent
is a promising material for application in water sorption-based technologies.
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