UC Berkeley

Atmospheric moisture is a ubiquitous water resource available at any time and any place, making it attractive to develop materials for harvesting water from air to address the imminent water shortage crisis. In this context, we have been exploring the applicability of covalent organic frameworks (COFs) for water harvesting and report here a new porous, two-dimensional imine-linked COF with a voided square grid topology, termed COF-432. Unlike other reported COFs, COF-432 meets the requirements desired for water harvesting from air in that it exhibits an S-shaped water sorption isotherm with a steep pore-filling step at low relative humidity and without hysteretic behavior-properties essential for energy-efficient uptake and release of water. Further, it can be regenerated at ultra-low temperatures and displays exceptional hydrolytic stability, as demonstrated by the retention of its working capacity after 300 water adsorption-desorption cycles.