Sustainable Water Sourcing: Solar-Driven Potable Water Extraction from Atmospheric Moisture*

Water scarcity is a rapidly growing problem that touches nearly all stretches of the world. Atmospheric water harvesting is a promising solution to this problem. Our approach involves using a liquid desiccant and a permeable hydrogel in order to capture atmospheric water and store it in its liquid phase, which we have previously demonstrated. However, a critical stage to this process is being able to release potable water from the hydrogel and desiccant setup. The goal is to find passive means to release this water. However, challenges arrive due to the elevated boiling temperature of desiccant solutions. To undertake this problem, we use a sun concentrating trough optimized with solar tracking to evaporate and condense potable water from the liquid desiccant solution storage. All experimentation takes place in low-humidity Las Vegas, one of the most difficult places to capture water, to ensure that our atmospheric water harvester has promising applications anywhere.