Fu, Changhui , Tian, Guangyi , He, Shaojun , He, Yuxuan , Zhang, Huayang , Guo, Zhiguang
2026-04-01 NANO TODAY 2026 68(卷), null(期), (null页)
Sorption-based atmospheric water harvesting (SAWH) has become one of the promising methods to extract water from the air in arid regions because of its high efficiency and low energy consumption. Among them hygroscopic salt-based hydrogels are attractive materials for SAWH due to their relatively high water uptake and structural adjustability. However, their mass transfer properties limit water vapor transport resulting in slow sorption kinetics. How to maximize the water uptake of materials has recently become one of the main goals shared by researchers. Here, we report a novel strategy for the preparation of super swelling macroporous topological network hydrogels (PCP/PAMPS-C-LiCl) by pre-ionic shielding (PIS), which combines the dual performance of improving the sorption kinetics and stability of conventional hydrogels. It has an excellent water uptake of 0.53 g g- 1 - 1.72 g g- 1 within 12 h in an arid environment with low relative humidity RH of 15 % -60 %, whereas a water uptake up to 4 g g- 1 can be rapidly obtained within 2 h at 90 % RH. In addition, we explored the adsorption, swelling and shrinkage kinetics in detail to illustrate the mechanism. We additionally integrated a hybrid photothermal and electrothermal desorption system using solar photovoltaic panels, which enables efficient desorption in all-weather without additional power input. Finally, the adsorbent was also shown to be useful for feeding plants in a semi-closed system. The water in the hydrogel is released under sunlight for plant growth for 19 days, enabling the recycling of atmospheric water. This strategy can be scaled up to a new generation of crop greenhouses or small-scale pot culture at home, providing new insights into the transformation of sustainable agriculture in arid regions.