Atmospheric Water Harvesting with Metal-Organic Frameworks and Their Composites: From Materials to Devices

Clean water scarcity is deteriorating because of the growing population and water pollution. New methods to harvest freshwater from non-traditional water sources are urgently required to address this global issue. The atmosphere contains abundant water resources. Harvesting fresh water from the air has become an emerging and attractive approach, among which sorption-based atmospheric water harvesting (AWH) is the most promising method, as it demonstrates high water producibility, wide applicability and low energy consumption. Metal-organic frameworks (MOF) are a class of emerging porous materials characterized by their large specific surface area, adjustable pore structures and chemistry. Recently, hydrolytically stable MOFs have been used as sorbents in AWH, and several MOF-based prototyping devices have been demonstrated with great practical potential. In this review, we briefly summarize the recent progress on the MOFs and their derived composites as AWH sorbents. Then, we introduce several most representative devices using MOFs for practical applications. Finally, the challenges and perspectives of this emerging field are discussed.