Sponge-like MOFs harvest water from thin air

Passive water capture has the potential to impact millions of lives around the world, allowing people to extract water directly from the atmosphere using little or no energy. It can work in arid conditions where other sources of water may not be available and could be a powerful tool for vulnerable communities dealing with the consequences of climate change.

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MOFs are an ideal candidate for passive water capture. Their sponge-like crystal structure gives them the highest surface area per gram of any material. Just one gram of some MOFs would have a surface area of more than an acre if laid flat in a single layer. While some research into using MOFs for water capture has been conducted, this latest work involved an extensive exploration of various MOFs in an effort to find the most adsorbent. The study is published in Scientific Reports.