Exploiting radiative cooling for uninterrupted 24-hour water harvesting from the atmosphere

Abstract

This work presents a continuously operating (24-hour), energy-neutral, radiative cooling system, to harvest water from the air.

Abstract

Atmospheric water vapor is ubiquitous and represents a promising alternative to address global clean water scarcity. Sustainably harvesting this resource requires energy neutrality, continuous production, and facility of use. However, fully passive and uninterrupted 24-hour atmospheric water harvesting remains a challenge. Here, we demonstrate a rationally designed system that synergistically combines radiative shielding and cooling—dissipating the latent heat of condensation radiatively to outer space—with a fully passive superhydrophobic condensate harvester, working with a coalescence-induced water removal mechanism. A rationally designed shield, accounting for the atmospheric radiative heat, facilitates daytime atmospheric water harvesting under solar irradiation at realistic levels of relative humidity. The remarkable cooling power enhancement enables dew mass fluxes up to 50 g m ⁻² hour ⁻¹, close to the ultimate capabilities of such systems. Our results demonstrate that the yield of related technologies can be at least doubled, while cooling and collection remain passive, thereby substantially advancing the state of the art.