Fabrication of PEDOT microtubes wrapped into honeycomb chitosan beads for atmospheric water harvesting

The shortage of fresh water resources is becoming more and more serious, which endangers human survival and social progress. Atmospheric water harvesting technology is expected to be one of the ideal ways to break through this predicament. However, in the special circumstances such as offshore place or island, the equipment of atmospheric water harvesting is required not only to have good capture ability of water molecules, but also to have the advantages of stable performance, low energy consumption, and simply employment. We designed and prepared a composite of microtube-filled vesicle-like PEDOT wrapped into honeycomb chitosan by vaper-phase polymerization. Under the static adsorption, it reaches high water molecules uptake of 154.0 wt% at 98% relative humidity, and captured water molecules aggregate into droplets to achieve the direct collection without any external force. Moreover, this composite has low density and good stability under high humidity, which indicates its promising application for atmospheric water harvesting in the coastal and offshore areas.