Metal–Organic-Framework-Based Polymers for Effective Water Harvesting in Arid Areas

This study used a postsynthetic modification strategy to amidate UIO-66-NH 2 to synthesize a functional copolymer monomer by free radical polymerization with acrylic acid (AA) and acrylamide (AM) to form hygroscopic polymer materials based on UIO-66-NH 2 (UPHMs). The experiments show that the uptake capacity of UIO-66-NH 2 -self-polymerization products and UPHMs for water vapor is 11.1 and 18.6 times that of pure UIO-66-NH 2, respectively. And UPHMs can be adsorbed in a wide range of adsorption humidity (relative humidity (RH) from 50 to 90%) and with high adsorption of liquid water (salt), rapid water vapor capture (at 90% RH and 25 °C, 10 h adsorption efficiency reaches 1.9 g/g), low desorption temperature, and higher water release rate. The method offers a promising route for the development of atmospheric water recovery materials based on adsorbents, and it opens horizons for the controllable preparation of soft MOF hydrogels and functional materials for many promising applications.