Facilely synthesized LiCl-confined KMF-1 composites spheres for high-performance atmospheric water harvesting

Li, Mengchen , Gao, Shuo , Xu, Shunlong , Jin, Junsu , Liu, Junteng , Meng, Hong

2026-09-28 SEPARATION AND PURIFICATION TECHNOLOGY 2026   404(卷), null(期), (null页)

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Atmospheric water harvesting has emerged as a promising approach for addressing freshwater scarcity in arid regions. However, conventional hygroscopic salts suffer from leakage and agglomeration, while powder adsorbents often exhibit severe packing limitations that hinder vapor transport. Herein, a spherical composites adsorbent (KMF-1@LiCl-SA) was developed by confining LiCl within the pores of the KMF-1 and further shaping the composites using a sodium-alginate-based crosslinked network. Notably, the composites can be simply synthesized through a mild and scalable preparation process, which is advantageous for practical large-scale applications. The confinement of LiCl within KMF-1 pores enhances water adsorption under low humidity, while the three-dimensional porous SA network effectively prevents particle agglomeration and improves vapor diffusion pathways. As a result, the composites exhibits a high-water uptake of 0.826 g g(-1) at 298 K and 30% RH, which is 2.75 times higher than pristine KMF-1. Dynamic adsorption experiments reveal that the shaped composites delivers a water vapor adsorption rate of 0.92 g g(-1) h(-1) under an airflow of 1780 mL min(-1) at 298 K and 22% RH, representing a 60 times enhancement compared with static adsorption under identical conditions, thereby underscoring its promise for practical AWH applications. More importantly, the shaped spherical adsorbent significantly alleviates the packing effect compared with powdered materials, leading to improved adsorption kinetics under practical loading conditions. The material also demonstrates excellent adsorption-desorption reversibility, cycling stability, and structural robustness. This work provides a practical strategy for integrating salt-confined MOFs with polymer shaping networks to develop high-performance adsorbents for AWH.