ll

Review
Device design and optimization
of sorption-based atmospheric water harvesters
Shuai Guo,1 Yaoxin Zhang,2,* and Swee Ching Tan1,*
1Department of Materials Science and Engineering, 9 Engineering Drive 1, Singapore 117575, Singapore
2China-UK Low Carbon College, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 3 Yinlian Road, Shanghai 201306, People’s Republic of China
*Correspondence: zhangyaoxin@sjtu.edu.cn (Y.Z.), msetansc@nus.edu.sg (S.C.T.)
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.device.2023.100099

THE BIGGER PICTURE Sorption-based atmospheric water harvesting (AWH) provides an innovative and
promising solution for cost-effective clean water harvesting to alleviate the increasing water crisis and miti-
gate water imbalance distribution around the world. For such devices, overall water collection is determined
by the sorbent water uptake, the vapor condensation efficiency in relation to the heat and mass transfer pro-
cess inside the water harvester, and also the design of the devices. The last several years have witnessed an
explosive emergence of moisture sorbents with outstanding performance; however, the development and
prototyping of AWH devices for finding and optimizing their design remain relatively underexplored.
We present an overview of device design strategies, including heat recycling, multistage design, and conden-
sation cooling techniques, based on different operation modes and device geometry. We explain the under-
lying logic for these strategies and the transitions among different geometries. We aim to take this opportu-
nity to stress the importance of paying attention to overall water collection and device optimizations and help
promote research in AWH devices to move toward real-world applications.

SUMMARY

Atmospheric water harvesting (AWH) is a promising approach to providing fresh water to areas without ac-
cess to large bodies of freshwater and mitigating imbalanced water distribution. Besides material innova-
tions, researchers have explored different design strategies for these AWH devices, which can be divided
into monocyclic and multicyclic types. Monocyclic water harvesters can be further categorized into those us-
ing upward vapor escape, for which research efforts have focused on reducing top cover heating and
increasing sorption capacity, and those using downward vapor escape, for which research efforts have
focused on heat recycling and cooling strategies to enhance condensation efficiency. Notably, some of these
devices utilize radiative cooling and require zero external energy input. For multicyclic water harvesters, ef-
forts have focused on optimizing the sorbents’ water uptake kinetics and device design geometry to guar-
antee continuous water harvesting.

INTRODUCTION or large-scale facilities, providing a low-cost and facile approach

Although more than 70% of Earth’s surface is covered by water,
fresh and clean water resources are relatively scarce, and there
exist many water-starved communities around the world.1,2
This global water crisis is expected to become more complicated
due to climate change, alongside the increasing water consump-
tion and sanitation needs induced by a growing global popula-
tion.3–6 In anticipation of the worsening crisis, a wide range of so-
lutions have been proposed, such as seawater desalination and
water purification powered by ocean energy harvesting, and
other strategies such as flash distillation and reverse
osmosis.7–10 Compared with most other solutions, atmospheric
water harvesting (AWH) does not rely on existing water resources
for delivering fresh water in water-stressed regions, especially for
inland regions with underdeveloped economics.11,12
Compared with other AWH techniques such as fog collection,
which requires a high relative humidity (RH), and dew collection,
which requires high energy input to cool the device for water
condensation, sorption-based AWH techniques use sorbent ma-
terials for moisture capture and water release and can operate in
a wide RH range with less energy input.13–15 The key compo-
nents of sorption-based AWH lie in the sorbents and water har-
vesters.16–22 A sorbent with high water uptake capacity, fast
capture kinetics, and low desorption temperature would be an
ideal candidate for the sorption-based AWH technique. The
last 5 years have witnessed a surge of interest in developing

Device 1, 100099, October 20, 2023 ª 2023 Elsevier Inc. 1

 ll
and optimizing different types of sorbents.23–30 However,
research efforts thus far have paid more attention to the water
uptake capacity of sorbent materials instead of the overall water
collection capability of the device. Overall water collection is not
merely related to the sorbent water uptake but also the vapor
condensation efficiency, which is governed by the heat and
mass transfer process inside the water harvester and depends
on the optimization of water harvester devices at the systematic
level (Figure 1). Compared to the tremendous variety of devel-
oped sorbents, the number of different device designs is more
limited, and most are still at the proof-of-concept stage. In this
review, we evaluate the overall water collection rate of reported
AWH devices and highlight their design with consideration of
mass and heat transfer during the water uptake and lateral
desorption-condensation processes.
Sorption-based AWH can be divided into two main classes
according to their operation principles: monocyclic and multi-
cyclic. Early devices were mainly confined to monocyclic wa-
ter harvesters, where efforts were made to understand the
heat and mass transfer process with the enhancement of
condensation efficiency via cooling strategies. However, sor-
bents with poor sorption-desorption kinetics are a barrier to
water yield improvement. Sorbent engineering, aiming at
enhancing sorption-desorption kinetics, was used in multicy-
clic water harvesting, which led to more diverse device de-
signs and different working modes to enhance the water yield
(Figure 1).
MONOCYCLIC WATER HARVESTERS
The monocyclic water harvester is defined by its design to
conduct a single sorption-desorption cycle per day. The device
design generally consists of two main components: a sorbent
bed for absorbing moisture and a condenser to convert the
captured moisture into water droplets. The design relies on the
high RH during nighttime for moisture capture, while the desorp-
tion process takes place in the subsequent daytime with the help
of solar thermal energy, followed by vapor condensation. Solar
utilization efficiency is not currently considered a developmental
bottleneck, as even a multistage device can only make use of up
to 20% of the total solar flux over a day.35 Therefore, for sorbent
selection of monocyclic water harvesters, the moisture uptake
capacity tends to be prioritized over the sorption-desorption ki-
netics and the desorption temperature. The local variations in
weather conditions should also be considered when selecting
sorbents, especially for designs using sorbents whose perfor-
mance is very sensitive to the RH.
Besides sorbent selection, another factor affecting device per-
formance is the mass and heat transfer process, which is deter-
mined by the condensation cooling process between the adsor-
bent bed and the condenser, where the difference in saturated
vapor pressure between the sorbent and condenser governs
the condensation process. Here, a closed device usually pro-
vides slower condensation compared with an open design
because the condensing surface of the closed device tends to
be hotter, leading to a lower desorption efficiency and a longer
desorption time. Therefore, the development of monocyclic wa-
ter harvesters has seen a transition from upward vapor escape to
2 Device 1, 100099, October 20, 2023
Review
downward vapor escape, which has led to an improvement in the
driving pressure difference.
The thermal conductivity of the sorbent materials also plays a
pivotal role in the heat transfer rate. Although a highly compacted
sorbent bed can enhance internal heat conduction, it slows
down water penetration and release in return. Latent heat recy-
cling for multistage devices has been investigated as a way to
deal with this trade-off. In addition, various cooling strategies
such as thermoelectrical cooling, water cooling, and radiative
cooling on condensers have also been investigated. In particular,
radiative cooling offers a solution with a zero-energy requirement
and provides an energy-efficient cooling strategy for monocyclic
AWH devices (Table 1).
UPWARD VAPOR CONDENSATION IN MONOCYCLIC
HARVESTERS
The earliest modern-day AWH device, which uses upward vapor
condensation with a monocyclic design, resembled traditional
solar stills and was first reported in 2015 (Figure 2C).36 In the eve-
ning, windows on the 2015 device were opened, and the sorbent
(0.36 m2) captured moisture in the air. During the daytime, solar
energy was used to increase the sorbent temperature to 70 C
for desorption, and vapor condensation was collected by the top
glass cover. With an optimized CaCl2 ratio, the device could pro-
duce about 0.18 L/day per kg of sorbent material with >60% RH,
which is far behind the daily drinking water requirement for a sin-
gle person (3.5 L). In this early prototype, the water uptake ca-
pacity of the sorbent was relatively low, and the device design
suffered from the unwanted effect of the top glass cover being
heated by the sun when only the sorbent needed to be heated,
which hindered vapor condensation on the glass. The con-
densed water on the top glass also partially blocks out solar en-
ergy for the sorbent below.
Two strategies have been proposed to enhance sorbent up-
take independent of material selection: using multilayer struc-
tures and boosting the environmental RH. Figure 2A shows a so-
lar glass pyramid system with multishelves, which minimizes the
overall device footprint while achieving the same or even higher
water collection.37 Different beds immersed with CaCl2 were
placed on the shelf for sorbents. It was found that the cloth
bed has higher productivity than that of the saw-wood bed by
about 5% due to the higher amount of CaCl2 it could hold. The
pyramid device can produce 2.5 L/day/m2 water collection,
which was an over 90% enhancement compared with previous
systems. Figure 2B shows a water-harvesting device with
enhanced water collection by floating above the sea surface,38
which is not a traditional AWH device but employs a similar strat-
egy for producing fresh water. For one such device, zinc oxide
hydrogel was selected as the sorbent, as it could absorb
420% of its own weight overnight, especially on the sea sur-
face with high RH. During the daytime, the captured moisture
was desorbed in <30 min with solar energy, producing 5 L/day
per kg of hydrogel. Because the RH over the sea surface was al-
ways high in the daytime and the sorbent only requires a desorp-
tion temperature of 60 C, such a device may be optimized to
continuously harvest moisture, with a calculated maximum of
14 L/day per kg of hydrogel.

Review
For enhancement of condensation efficiency and droplet collec-
tion, methods to improve air convection, reduce the condensation
surface temperature, and even physically collect the droplet using
wipers were explored. Figure 2F shows a design using a metal-
organic framework (MOF)-801/nonporous graphite as the sorbent.
The device applied infrared (IR) reflective coatings to all exposed
surfaces except the MOF.39 The water sorption unit is designed
to retain up to 2,945 cm3 sorbent with a packing porosity of 0.7.
The geometry of the sorbent container was also chosen to facilitate
a large surface-to-volume ratio (>0.5) of the MOF. In addition, the
introduction of IR reflective coating led to a >20 C reduction under
solar irradiation, with the added benefit of enhancing heat transfer
with the surroundings, which further increased vapor condensa-
tion to 0.175 L/kg/day in desert conditions (RH < 40%). Figure 2D
shows a design with the use of mechanical wipers.5 Instead of wa-
ter production, the AWH device differed from others, as it was de-
signed as a self-irrigation system for plants. A Cu complex was
selected and placed on a rectangular tray (400 cm3). The desorp-
tion time was limited to 15 min to produce enough water for irriga-
tion while avoiding overheating the plants (2.24 L/kg/h). Figure 2E
shows a design with the inclusion of fans on the side wall to in-
crease air disturbance to avoid condensation on the top cover.40
The compact and cost-effective device used only about 10 g sor-
bent material (Birnessite), dispersed on a glassy petri dish, with a
condenser placed on the bottom, and produced 0.07 L/kg/day un-
der arid conditions (RH = 23.6%). Although the value is much lower
than that of MOF-based water harvesters, its low cost made it an
alternative material for water harvesting.
ll
Figure 1. Sorption-based AWH devices can
be divided by their working principle into
monocyclic and multicyclic modes
(Top) For the monocyclic mode, strategies for
condensation cooling and improved sorbent water
uptakes are chosen based on the water evaporation
direction. For both upward and downward vapor
escape, radiative cooling can be added to enhance
water production. (Bottom) For the multicyclic
mode, the sorbent engineering, device geometry,
and operation mode are shown. Reprinted with
permission,31–34 copyright 2019, American Chemi-
cal Society; copyright 2022, Wiley-VCH; copyright
2022, Springer Nature; copyright 2023, Wiley-VCH.
DOWNWARD VAPOR
CONDENSATION IN MONOCYCLIC
HARVESTERS
In downward vapor condensation systems,
the sorbent is placed on the top of the de-
vice, while vapor condensation occurs at
the bottom of the device. This design re-
duces the solar heating of the condensation
surface and the blocking of solar irradiation
by the condensed vapor. The optimization
strategies of downward vapor condensa-
tion systems mainly lie in the enhancement
of heat recycling and the cooling ability of
condensers (Figure 3B). Figure 3A shows
a sorbent design by filling a thin and porous copper foam with a
thickness of 0.41 cm and a porosity of 0.95 with MOF-801. To
reduce parasitic heat loss, the sorbent was brazed on a copper
substrate and placed on the top of the device with 5 3 5 geometry
(1.79 g) and an average packing porosity of 0.85 to enhance
structural rigidity and thermal transport41 The surrounding sur-
faces were covered with reflective enclosures to avoid solar heat-
ing, and a condenser was placed at the bottom of the device with
a heat sink for passive cooling. The temperature of the condenser
was maintained slightly below ambient levels (23 C), but above
the dew point, to prevent vapor condensation on the inner walls of
the enclosure, while the temperature of the sorbent was kept at
65 C. The large temperature difference between the two resulted
in a water production of over 2.8 L/kg MOF in arid regions (20%
RH), which is an order of magnitude greater than yields from de-
vices with similar size and weight using upward vapor collection.
The ideal selective solar absorber should capture nearly 100%
solar absorbance within the solar spectrum and 0% solar radia-
tion within the mid-IR region, which would help the device reach
high surface temperatures under solar irradiation and desorb the
sorbents with high regeneration temperatures.49 Figure 3C
shows a design using porous zeolite (AQSOA Z01) as the two
adsorbent layers, with a single solar absorber for heat input
and a single condenser for heat rejection to create a dual-stage
water-harvesting device.35 In this design, the latent heat of the
condensation from the first stage is used for desorption in the
next stage. To optimize the distance of the air-gap thickness be-
tween the two layers and the layer thickness of the sorbents, a
Device 1, 100099, October 20, 2023 3
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Review

Table 1. Summary of the design strategies in monocyclic water harvesters

Water uptake Overall water collection
Sorbent (% RH) Device configuration (% RH) Device design strategies
CaCl2/saw-wood composite36 0.079 g/g/h (>60) upward vapor escape 0.18 L/kg/day (>60) –
MOF-303/graphene37 0.3 g/g (30) upward vapor escape 0.175 L/kg (<40) IR reflective coating on
condenser
ZnO hydrogel38 4.2 g/g (90) upward vapor escape 5 L/day/kg increase RH via floating
(sea surface) above the sea surface
Cu complex5 1.46 g/g (80) upward vapor escape 2.24 g/g/h (80) breathable PTFE sheet;
wiper for watering plants
Birnessite39 0.1 g/g (20) upward vapor escape 0.07 L/kg (23.6) additional fans to increase
air disturbance
CaCl2/saw- – upward vapor escape 2.5 L/day/m2 (60) solar glass pyramid
wood bed40 system with multishelves
MOF-80141 0.25 g/g (20) downward vapor escape 2.8 L/kg (20) temperature-controlled
condenser and heat sink
AQSOA Z0135 0.2 L/kg (40) downward vapor escape 0.77 L/m2/day (35) latent heat recycle;
dual-stage design
MIL-101(Cr)42 1.05 g/g (30) downward vapor escape – pelter cooling and heating
LiCl/ACF43 2.9 g/g (70) downward vapor escape 0.92 g/g (35) phase-change materials
for condensation cooling
CuBTC composite44 0.67 g/g (90) downward vapor escape 0.45 L/kg/day (90) water cooling for
vapor condensation
MOF-80145 0.37 g/g (30) downward vapor escape 0.25 L/kg/day (30) radiative cooling coating
on the condenser
MIL-101@CF composite46 1.2 g/g (65) downward vapor escape 750 g/m2 (65) radiative heating and
cooling for sorption-desorption
Cellulose fabric47 1.29 g/g (85) sorbent itself 1.29 g/g (85) radiative cooling-assisted
moisture sorption
ACF/CPP composite48 1.835 g/g (30) upward vapor escape 2.62 g/g/day (30) radiative cooling-assisted
moisture sorption

heat and mass transfer model was used to maximize the system
efficiency and water production, and an adsorbent-layer thick-
ness of 6.4 mm, an air-gap thickness of 20 mm, and a packing
porosity of 0.7 were chosen. Together with a high temperature
(90 C) on the top layer under solar irradiation, the device had
enough heat flux to produce 0.77 L/m2/day of water, which is
18% greater than that in the single-stage downward AWH
device.
Aside from heat recycling, cooling strategies on the sorbents
or the condenser are of great importance for enhancing water
collection (Figure 4). Vapor cannot be converted into liquid un-
less the condenser is cooler than the dew point. Further tem-
perature reduction is beneficial for vapor condensation since
the condensation efficiency is dependent on the temperature
difference and thus the vapor pressure difference between
the sorbent and the condenser. For sorbents, a lower temper-
ature can lead to higher and faster water sorption, especially for
these sorbents with S-shape isotherms, since a shift of the in-
flection point into low RH could be observed as the tempera-
ture drop.
A powered cooler can be used to actively cool the device.
Figure 4 shows a design using a Peltier cooler to decrease
the sorbent temperature by 14 C, leading to an inflection point
shift to less than 30% RH and a dramatic water uptake
improvement from 0.13 to 1.05 L/kg with an air temperature
of 25 C at 30% RH.42 During the daytime, the Peltier cooler
acted as an electrical heater by switching the current direction
to help desorb the captured moisture. Water cooling is another
strategy for lowering the temperature of the condenser. Fig-
ure 5A shows a design using solar heating for moisture desorp-
tion (80 C) and water cooling to keep the bottom of the de-
vice at a much cooler temperature (20 C). Figure 5B shows a
design using a top copper plate as a heater and a bottom cop-
per plate as a condenser to shelter the water droplets, with a
maximum water collection rate of 0.445 L/kg/day and an en-
ergy usage of 8 kWh/day.
RADIATIVE COOLING FOR ENHANCING WATER
PRODUCTION IN MONOCYCLIC DESIGNS
Unlike the cooling strategies mentioned above, which all require
additional energy input, radiative cooling does not require energy
input and thus provides an inherently energy-efficient and off-
grid solution to water harvesting.50 Coating materials used for
radiative cooling have been developed and used in enhancing ef-
ficiencies of air conditioning, solar energy systems, thermal man-
agement, and direct renewable power generation51,52 and can
be adapted to provide cooling for AWH devices.

4 Device 1, 100099, October 20, 2023

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Review

Figure 2. Water-harvesting devices using upward vapor escape

Strategies based on improving the sorbent water uptake.
(A and B) Multilayer structure (A) and floating (B) strategies are applied. Reproduced with permission,37,38 copyright 2019, Wiley-VCH; copyright 2007, Elsevier.
(C) Schematic illustration of a basic water harvester. In the evening, windows on the side wall were opened for moisture capture, while solar energy was
introduced for desorption the next day.
(D–F) Strategies based on increasing condensation efficiency and droplet removal, such as the use of (D) mechanical wipers, (E) forced air convection, and (F) IR
reflectors to cool the top cover. Reproduced with permission,5 copyright 2020, Wiley-VCH.

In the design shown in Figure 6A, the exposed top MOF layer
(5 3 5 cm, 3 g, 0.67 packing porosity) was coated with a paint
with 95% solar absorption. During the nighttime, the side walls
were opened, and the MOF layer was saturated with vapor
from the natural flow of ambient air and passively cooled with ra-
diation, leading to a temperature reduction of 3 K, which corre-
sponded to an increase of 5%–7% RH experienced by the sor-
bent. In the daytime, the optically transparent thermal insulator
(OTTI Aerogel) was placed on top of the device for solar desorp-
tion to suppress convective heat loss, resulting in 0.25 L/kg/day
water production in the arid region. Although the water produc-
tion of this device was not particularly impressive, the design
strategy opens up the possibility of using sorbents (e.g., MOF-
841, Co2Cl2BTDD) with much higher water uptake capacity in
the climate with RH (20%) lower than their inflection points
(25%–30% RH). Such a design is further upgraded into simulta-
neous AWH and power generation using a dual-function coating
layer and a thermoelectric power generator (TEPG).46 In the day-
time, the coating layer acted as the solar absorber to convert so-
lar energy into heat for moisture desorption. The continuous so-
lar input created a hot side on the top of the TEPG module, while
heat dissipation during water evaporation led to a cold side on
the TEPG module, for a production of 500 mV. In the evening,
the coating layer enabled radiative cooling to create a cold

Figure 3. Water-harvesting devices based on downward vapor escape and the corresponding strategies for the enhancement of water
production
(A) Passive cooling through the heat sink and active thermoelectric cooling were applied to enhance the condensation efficiency. Reproduced with permission,41
copyright 2017, Science.
(B) Schematic illustration of water harvesters based on downward vapor escape.
(C) Prototype of dual-stage water harvester. The latent heat from the condensation at the first stage could be recycled for desorption in the second stage.
Reproduced with permission,35 copyright 2021, Elsevier.

Device 1, 100099, October 20, 2023 5

 ll
side on the TEPG, while the moisture sorption heating increased
the temperature on the other side of the TEPG, thus delivering
120 mV based on the smaller temperature difference. Besides,
the moisture capture was also facilitated by the radiative cooling,
and thus water production of over 0.7 L/m2/day was achieved
under 25 C 65% RH.
Aside from device designs, the sorbents can also be designed
to increase hygroscopicity and radiative cooling for enhancing
moisture uptake and yield. Figure 6B shows a radiative cooling
cellulose-based fabric that could harvest 1.29 kg/kg water at
80% RH during the evening.47 47% of the incoming irradiation
was reflected by the highly porous fiber network, while the
tremendous amount of micro- and nanostructures inside the fab-
ric could strongly emit in the atmospheric window (8–13 mm), re-
sulting in a 7.5 K temperature drop below ambient temperature.
Such a temperature drop is beneficial for enhancing moisture
sorption at low RH and dew collection at high RH. The innate hy-
drophilic property of cellulose with a large amount of hydroxyl on
the side chain further enhances the water adsorption by reducing
the nucleation energy barrier of condensation, and the bonded
water molecules also attract more water vapor, resulting in water
uptake at a higher level. Besides, due to the non-toxicity of the
raw materials, the potable water could be quickly squeezed off
Figure 5. Water harvesting devices based on water cooling for improved water production
(A) The cross-section view of the prototype based on water cooling. Reproduced with permission,43 copyright 2020, Elsevier;
(B) Schematic illustration of the mechanism and prototype device based on water cooling. Reproduced with permission,44 copyright 2022, Wiley-VCH.
6 Device 1, 100099, October 20, 2023
Review
Figure 4. Schematic illustration of three
condensation cooling strategies.
or through solar desorption without the addition of extra energy
inputs for water purification. Figure 6C shows a similar deliques-
cent sorbent with a super hydrophilic internal matrix for water
adsorption and a superhydrophobic elastic fibrous skin for
expansion and water leakage prevention.48 The fibrous skin
was also endowed with radiative cooling effects, thus further ex-
tending the effective humidity and sorption capacity.
MULTICYCLIC WATER HARVESTER
Unlike monocyclic water harvesters, multicyclic water har-
vesters can conduct multi-sorption-desorption cycles in a single
day. It is estimated that the multicyclic water harvester can
generate 1.3 L water per kg MOF material per day, which is
four times higher than what can be achieved by monocyclic wa-
ter harvesters under the same condition (e.g., 27 C, 30% RH).31
Multicyclic harvesters pose high requirements for sorbent selec-
tion and device optimization. For instance, sorbents are required
to not only have high water uptake capacity but also have fast
water sorption-desorption kinetics with low desorption tempera-
ture.32,53–55 The water diffusivity, bed thermal conductivity, and
sorbent configurations are also important factors for optimizing
the mass and heat transfer rate. The device geometry and design
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Review

Figure 6. AWH Devices based on radiative cooling for enhancing water production
(A) Schematic illustration of AWH devices with adsorption and solar desorption process. In the adsorption process, the radiative cooling cover lowered the
surface temperature of MOF-801 by dissipating thermal radiation to the sky to increase the effective RH for adsorption. In the solar desorption process, the OTTI
aerogel was placed on top of the MOF layer to suppress heat loss from the solar absorber. The heat of condensation below was rejected through a heat pipe heat
sink. Reproduced with permission,45 copyright 2018, Springer Nature.
(B) Schematic illustration of radiative cooling cellulose-based fabrics. The fabric could reflect more than 90% solar irradiation while emitting thermal radiation to
enhance moisture sorption and dew collection. Reproduced with permission,47 copyright 2022, American Chemical Society.
(C) Schematic of the all-in-one water-harvesting sorbent that could prevent desiccant leakage through hydrophobic fibrous skin and accelerate water sorption
through the hydrophilic matrix and radiative cooling effect inspired by the corn leaf structure. Reproduced with permission,48 copyright 2022, Elsevier.

also need to guarantee continuous water sorption-desorption
processes.27,33,34,56–63 Table 2 summarizes the device design
strategies for a multicyclic water harvester.
SORBENT ENGINEERING FOR MULTICYCLIC DESIGNS
Since multicyclic AWH devices set high requirements on sorbents
and there is a gap between the commercialized sorbents and the
requirements, sorbent engineering is therefore urgently needed,
and the goal of sorbent engineering is to realize sorbents with
fast sorption-desorption kinetics, low regeneration temperature,
and high water uptake capacity. Concerning mass and heat trans-
fer, porous and honeycomb structures with high thermal conduc-
tivity are preferred. High porosity confers the benefits of a large
surface area-to-volume ratio for fast moisture and liquid diffusion,
while high thermal conductivity is also conducive to facilitating the
water desorption process. Because of these requirements, re-
searchers have looked to hydrogels, MOFs, COFs, and other com-
posites with high thermoresponsiveness and carbon matrixes
when selecting sorbent materials for multicyclic AWH devices.
Figure 7A shows the characterization of a microporous
aluminum-based MOF-303 with a low water adsorption enthalpy
of 52 kJ/mol and fast water adsorption-desorption kinetics.31
Saturated water adsorption was achieved within 10 min under
30 C and 20% RH, followed by complete regeneration within a
few minutes via 85 C heating. Figure 7B shows the performance
of a MOF-derived nanoporous carbon sorbent with high water
uptake capacity, fast moisture capture kinetics, and inherent
photothermal property,54 with a saturated water uptake of 0.18
L/kg within 45 min under 20% RH, followed by 10 min solar
desorption for complete water release. Further analysis revealed
that the optimized adsorption site density (40%) and pore sizes
(1.0 nm) were key factors to reduce the water diffusion resistance
and accelerate the sorption kinetics. Based on these water-har-
vesting properties, a water production rate of 0.18 L/kg/h was
achieved in a subsequent AWH device. Another emerging sor-
bent candidate is COFs, with high hydrolytic stability and fast
sorption kinetics. One limitation for COF AWH devices lies in
the COFs’ low crystallinity and hydrolytic stability, as the usage
of hydrolytically robust linkages precludes the formation of highly
ordered molecular water networks within the porous framework,
which is an important prerequisite for obtaining S-shaped water
isotherm profiles. Figure 7C shows the sorbent COF 432, which
has a steep pore-filling step at low RH (<40% RH), exceptionally

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Table 2. Summary of the design strategies in multicyclic water harvesters

Water uptake Overall water collection Device/sorbent design
Sorbent (% RH) Device configuration (% RH) strategies
MOF 30331 0.5 g/g (30) stacked 1.3 L/kg/day (32) active mode based on forced
convection
MOF-derived 0.15 L/kg (20) upward vapor escape 1.365 L/kg; thermoelectric cooler for
nanoporous carbon54 0.195 L/kg/h (30) enhanced condensation
DHTA-Pa 2D COF33 0.48 g/g (30) upward vapor escape – hydrophobic skeleton,
hydrophilic site;
1D channels
HPC/LiCl32 0.5 g/g (15) upward vapor escape 7.9 L/kg (15) thermoresponsive HPC;
enlarged contact area
HPC/KGM34 0.64 g/g (15) upward vapor escape 5.8 L/kg (15) thermoresponsive HPC;
enlarged air-polymer
interfaces
Hollow carbon spheres/LiCl59 1.12 g/g (60) upward vapor escape 1.6 kg/kg (60) rotatory design
LiCl@rGO-SA60 1.52 g/g (30) downward vapor escape 2.12 L/kg (56) rotatory design
[EMIM][Ac] ionic liquid61,62 1.2 g/g (80) upward vapor escape 2.8 L/m2/day interfacial solar-driven
AWH
MOF-80163 0.37 g/g (30) stacked 3.5 L/kg (17–32) adaptive mode

high water sorption cycling stability, and low heat of adsorp-
tion.58 Figure 7D shows a 2D COF with a hydrophobic skeleton
and a hydrophilic site together with 1D channels and a high water
uptake of 0.48 L/kg at 30% RH with an adsorption rate of 0.72
L/kg/h and a desorption rate of 2.58 L/kg/h at 60 C.33 It should
be highlighted that 90% adsorbed water could be released
within 20 min at 40 C. Such a kinetic performance surpassed
the reported porous materials and boosted the efficiency for
multiple water extraction cycles. Aside from MOFs and COFs,
hydrogel is another promising candidate for use in multicyclic
water harvesting. Figure 7E shows the material design of a hy-
groscopic microgel (HMG) based on a thermoresponsive hy-
droxypropyl cellulose (HPC) scaffold and LiCl.32 HMGs with
enlarged contact areas were favorable for liquid diffusion with
a short transportation pathway, resulting in 0.5 and 0.8 g/g
saturated water uptake within 75 and 60 min at 15% and
30% RH, respectively. The water desorption was facilitated by
hydrophilic-hydrophobic switching via heating due to the ther-
moresponsiveness of HPC, permitting the release of 80%
captured water within 15 min. The HMG delivered daily water
production of 7.9 and 19.1 L/kg at 15% and 30% RH, respec-
tively. Taking advantage of the thermoresponsiveness of HPC,
konjac glucomannan (KGM), with its high porosity and enlarged
air-polymer interfaces, was used to further enhance sorption-
desorption kinetics, realizing water release within 10 min and
achieving 14 sorption-desorption cycles at 15% RH (5.8 L/kg)
and 24 cycles (13.3 L/kg) at 30% RH per day.34
DESIGN OPTIMIZATION FOR MULTICYCLIC
HARVESTERS
For multicyclic water harvesting, the device design should sepa-
rate the desorption and sorption parts to guarantee continuous
moisture sorption and desorption. Figure 8A shows one of the
first multicyclic harvesters, which used hollow carbon sphere
(HCS)-LiCl with fast moisture sorption-desorption kinetics as
the sorbent.59 The top sector was exposed to the sun with a
condensation chamber for water release, while the bottom
sector was exposed to the ambient to harvest water vapor.
The entire device was optimized to rotate at 0.75 revolutions
per hour for a maximum water collection of 1.6 L/kg/day under
60% RH. Figure 8B shows an upgraded version that used down-
ward vapor condensation with an added condenser to increase
condensation efficiency.60 The nanocomposite sorbent (21.8 g),
which consisted of LiCl, reduced graphene oxide (rGO), and so-
dium alginate (SA), was selected, and the adsorption and
desorption durations were determined to be 210–240 and 70–
80 min, respectively. During the desorption process, the temper-
ature in the sorbent could reach 74 C, while the temperature of
the condenser was always maintained below 44 C from the
fast heat dissipation by forced air convection, resulting in water
production of 2.12 L/kg sorbent with 8 cycles over 10 h.
Another type of continuous water harvester was inspired by
interfacial solar steam generation. In one such design, liquid sor-
bent [EMIM][Ac] (1-ethyl-3-methyl-imidazolium cation ([EMIM]+)
and an acetate anion ([Ac] )) were used to harvest moisture un-
der extremely low RH (10%).61,62 By placing a solar absorber
carbon fiber membrane above the [EMIM][AC] layer, the har-
vested moisture could be readily released while the surrounding
sorbents harvested moisture concurrently, and the device could
continuously produce potable water with a rate of 2.8 L/m2/day
(Figure 8C).
A multicyclic AWH device can also benefit from the use of a fan
to force air through the sorbent bed for adsorption, a powered
heat source to help release the water for desorption, and a vapor
compression refrigeration system for condensation. Figure 8D
shows such a device, with a fan-equipped exchanger, hosting
the activated MOF-303 powder packed into 10.16 3 10.16 3
0.317 cm3 beds with 0.7 packing porosity, supported by 10
trays with five desorption and six adsorption channels, which

8 Device 1, 100099, October 20, 2023

 ll
Review

Figure 7. Sorbents with fast sorption-desorption kinetics for multicyclic water harvesters
(A) Water sorption property of MOF-303. MOF-303 could reach saturated moisture uptake within 10 min at 20% RH and completely release the captured water
under 85 C for 5 min. Inset: the structure of MOF-303. Reproduced with permission,31 copyright 2019, American Chemical Society.
(B) Water sorption-desorption measurements of MOF-derived nanoporous carbon sorbent at 25 C and 20%–50% RH. Inset: the structure of nanoporous carbon
sorbent. Reproduced with permission,54 copyright 2022, Springer Nature.
(C) Water sorption isotherm of COF-432 and cyclic stability for 300 cycles. Reproduced with permission,58 copyright 2020, American Chemical Society.
(D) Schematic illustration of the structure and design strategies of 2D COFs with fast water sorption kinetics and low desorption temperature. Reproduced with
permission,33 copyright 2023, Wiley-VCH.
(E) Schematic illustrations of materials design of HMG to promote AWH sorption-desorption kinetics. Reproduced with permission,32 copyright 2022, Wiley-VCH.

were then assembled into a removable cartridge and fitted with
heating strips.31 During the adsorption phase, the ambient air
was propelled into MOF layers, and the MOF extracted vapor
from the air by capturing water in its pores. During the desorption
process, the ambient air was propelled uniformly across the unit
in an orthogonal direction compared with the adsorption phase.
The MOF sorbent was also simultaneously heated to 80 C–
120 C. The generated hot and humid air was subsequently
transferred to a compressor-based condenser, resulting in water
production of 1.3 L/kg MOF/day.
Although requiring external power, the use of the heater, fan,
and condenser provides a way for AWH devices to adapt to envi-
ronmental conditions that change over time. Figure 8E shows a
device with an air intake compartment for forced air intake during
vapor sorption, a sorbent part with a stacked configuration for
moisture sorption and desorption, and a vapor compression
refrigeration system for water vapor condensation.63 During the
adsorption process, the duration time could be optimized to
match the inflection points so that the dew points no longer
decrease or decrease at a slower rate, while for the desorption
process, the time could be optimized to match when the dew
points no longer increase. Excessive heating during the desorp-
tion process would lead to a dew point reduction that required ex-
tra energy input on the heater and condenser, and the increased
moisture adsorption would be limited in relation to the extra time
spent. An algorithm was developed to optimize the duration time
under different environmental conditions, resulting in a 169%
enhancement in water production (3.5 L/kgMOF-801/day at
17%–32% RH) compared with a similar device without this opti-
mization (0.7–1.3 L/kg MOF/day at 10%–32% RH).

Device 1, 100099, October 20, 2023 9

 ll
CONCLUSION AND FUTURE PERSPECTIVES
Although water production of the current-stage AWH devices is
still at a small scale and cannot meet societal-scale demands to
fill up the freshwater resources gap, the research field is still young
and has plenty of room for growth. Here, we will highlight several cur-
rent developmental bottlenecks, including sorbent design, thermo-
dynamics concept, evaluation criteria, and scalability. We will
conclude by proposing future research directions in this boom-
ing field.
Obviously, sorbents with faster kinetics, lower regeneration tem-
perature, and lower cost will directly improve the performance of
any AWH device. But aside from these key parameters, attention
should be given to improving the water uptake performance of
the sorbents inside the device instead of in an open environment,
especially for devices with multilayer because of the less efficient
exposure of the sorbent to ambient vapor. Besides, the stability
of the sorbents, which refers to not only the structural integrity
but, more importantly, the constant performance under ambient
conditions with pollutants (such as particulate matter, COx, and
SOx), also needs to be considered. The pollutants may deposit
on the surface or inside the sorbent, thus influencing the moisture
uptake performance and threatening the water quality.
10 Device 1, 100099, October 20, 2023
Review
Figure 8. Multicyclic water harvester devices
(A) Schematic of continuous rotatory solar-driven
atmospheric water generator devices. Reproduced
with permission,59 copyright 2019, Elsevier.
(B) Structure of rotatory multicyclic water harvester.
Four sorbents were assembled: one of them faced
the sun for water release, and the other three faces
were exposed to air for moisture capture. Repro-
duced with permission,60 copyright 2021, Royal
Society of Chemistry.
(C) Interfacial solar-driven atmospheric water
generator with simultaneous adsorption-desorption
processes. Reproduced with permission,61 copy-
right 2019, Wiley-VCH.
(D) Illustration of atmospheric water-harvesting cy-
cles. Reproduced with permission,31 copyright
2019, American Chemical Society.
(E) Illustration of water harvester based on adaptive
mode. The device consisted of three compartments:
(1) an air intake compartment with an air filter, fan,
and heater; (2) a sorption compartment; and (3) a
condensation compartment with a condenser and a
water collection funnel. Reproduced with permis-
sion,63 copyright 2022, Springer Nature.
On the device level, aside from experi-
menting with different designs to enhance
mass and heat transfer during the desorp-
tion-condensation process, thermody-
namic concepts and other factors should
also be explored when optimizing designs.
For instance, the energy consumption (EC)
and the first- (hI) and second-law (hII) effi-
ciencies of AWH devices could be opti-
mized by considering the parameters of
adsorption, desorption RH, adsorption,
desorption, and condensation temperature. For this purpose, a
simulation model to understand, simulate, and predict the ther-
modynamics of sorbents is urgently needed. A theoretical frame-
work utilizing thermodynamic hI and hII has been established for
modeling the sorption-condensation process based on Carnot
cycles,64 and a systematic analysis has been done for the overall
EC efficiency for monocyclic AWH devices. Although monocy-
clic AWH devices have been optimized for downward vapor
condensation with recycled latent heat, the overall energy effi-
ciency is limited to less than 20%.35 Such a limitation is caused
by the low solar energy utility efficiency since the upper bound on
EC efficiency for solar desorption can be calculated by consid-
ering the energy requirement for water desorption, and water
desorption based on hydrophobic and hydrophilic switches un-
der solar energy is therefore recommended for water harvesting
with less EC.6,65,66 The thermodynamic analysis for a variety of
sorbents has been reported.67 For parametric analysis, it is
found that desorption temperature and desorption RH are the
two most influential parameters for reducing the EC and
increasing hI and hII without considerably changing the WPP.
Although the enhancement of desorption increases the mass
and heat transfer flow, the corresponding humidity decrease
with the reduction of dew point may complicate the trade-off

Review
and should be taken into consideration. The dew point is corre-
lated to the EC of the condenser, and thus an optimal desorption
time is needed to minimize EC. Based on such understanding, a
model has predicted that Syloid 72FP+57 wt % EMIM-Ac pos-
sesses a water production potential ranging from 0.55 to
1.55 kg/kg/cycle in extremely arid to partially humid regions
with EC as low as 3,483.62 kJ/kgw/cycle and hI and hII as high
as 0.65 and 0.24, respectively. However, such models may not
be accurate due to varied adsorption kinetics, thermal conduc-
tivity, diffusivity, and parasitic heat loss in real-world devices.
Hence, future work could pay attention to both real AWH device
testing and training simulation models based on experimental
data to further promote AWH device performance.
When evaluating the device performance, the unit of water
production (L/m2 sorbent/day, L/kg sorbent/day) needs to be
standardized depending on the design strategy. For porous sor-
bents with low and varying densities, the unit of L/m2 of sorbent/
day (instead of L/kg) is recommended since the footprint of the
device, rather than its weight, is likely to be the limiting factor.
However, it is worth stressing that AWH devices are often tested
and designed for different environmental conditions (e.g., a trop-
ical island with no freshwater access but humid air versus an
inland desert), so it is difficult to make apple-to-apple compari-
sons across all such devices. In addition, to guarantee the sus-
tainable development of AWH sorbents and device fabrication,
we want to emphasize that the evaluation index of the sorbents
and water harvesters is supposed to diversify rather than focus
merely on sorbent water uptake and overall water collection.
The low cost of sorbents and device fabrication as well as the
low EC on cooling and powering the water harvesters are also vi-
tal for practical applications.
Although the small footprint of AWH devices is one of its main
selling points over other freshwater production techniques such
as desalination plants, it is also worth considering the scalability
of these devices for utility-scale applications. The sorbent area of
current-stage AWH devices is on a scale of less than 1 m3, and it
is unclear whether their condensation efficiency would remain
consistent when scaled up. The heat and mass transfer should
also be evaluated according to scalability. Cooling techniques
with zero-energy input such as radiative cooling are promising
for vapor condensation with less EC, but such passive cooling
strategies may not be enough to dissipate heat for larger de-
vices, and an energy-efficient way to incorporate complemen-
tary active cooling should be explored.
Thermodynamic analysis of sorbents and device optimization
are two important and synergistic directions to promote overall
water production. In addition, interdisciplinary research, for
example, in power generation and sensing applications using hy-
groscopic materials can also help bring new insights into this
emerging field.68–73 AWH devices hold the potential to help alle-
viate water-starved communities ranging from those located in
arid inland areas to those on remote islands. For communities
where utility-scale water-processing facilities are not practically
feasible, a cost-effective AWH technique could provide a decen-
tralized solution to alleviate water scarcity, similar to the advent
of mobile phones and solar panels for bringing telecommunica-
tion and electricity to communities in the absence of large-scale
infrastructure.
ll
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Y. Z. acknowledges financial support from Shanghai Jiao Tong University
(WH220428005). S.C.T. acknowledges financial support from the Ministry of
Education Academic Research Fund Tier 2 (R-284-000-217-112).
DECLARATION OF INTERESTS
S.C.T. is a member of the Device editorial advisory board.
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