Solar-Driven Atmospheric Water Production Through Hierarchically Ordered Porous Carbon for Self-Sustaining Green Hydrogen Production

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
File version

Version of Record (VoR)

Author(s)
Fu, Bo
Zhang, Jifang
Robinson, Neil
Zhang, Zhen
Zhu, Zhengju
Dong, Mengyang
Zhang, Xinyuan
Kang, Jian
Michalski, Paul
Zhao, Zeyang
Ji, Jiapeng
Xu, Yiming
Zhang, Kaidi
Wang, Xinyu
Chen, Shan
et al.
Griffith University Author(s)
Primary Supervisor
Other Supervisors
Editor(s)
Date
2025
Size
File type(s)
Location
Abstract

Green hydrogen production by proton exchange membrane water electrolysis (PEMWE) powered by clean energy is a promising and environmentally friendly technology. However, it relies on a high-purity water source, which is limited in regions facing water scarcity. Here, a coupled self-sustaining solar-enabled system is reported that couples atmospheric water harvesting with PEM water electrolysis (AWH-PEMWE), offering a novel pathway for clean water generation and green hydrogen production. The atmospheric water harvester (AWH) component utilizes N and O co-doped hydrophilic ordered porous carbon, engineered with an interconnected hierarchical porous structure with prosperous channels for efficient mass transport. It enables effective interfacial solar evaporation for water release, achieving a record-high water harvesting capacity of 0.49 L kg−1 h−1 at 40% relative humidity (RH). During outdoor tests, the AWH-PEMWE system reaches a peak green hydrogen production rate of 204 mL h−1 at midday using only atmospheric water as feedstock. Remarkably, the system remains operational under ultra-low humidity conditions down to 20% RH, addressing the challenge of water availability in arid environments. Importantly, the system operates without the need for carrier gases or external energy input accessories, enabling a fully solar-driven process with zero carbon emission throughout the hydrogen production cycle.

Journal Title

Advanced Materials

Conference Title
Book Title
Edition
Volume
Issue
Thesis Type
Degree Program
School
Publisher link
Patent number
Funder(s)

ARC

Grant identifier(s)

DP200100965

DP210104010

DP230102504

Rights Statement
Rights Statement

© 2025 The Author(s). Advanced Materials published by Wiley-VCH GmbH. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.

Item Access Status
Note

This publication has been entered in Griffith Research Online as an advance online version.

Access the data
Related item(s)
Subject

Chemical sciences

Engineering

Physical sciences

Persistent link to this record
Citation

Fu, B; Zhang, J; Robinson, N; Zhang, Z; Zhu, Z; Dong, M; Zhang, X; Kang, J; Michalski, P; Zhao, Z; Ji, J; Xu, Y; Zhang, K; Wang, X; Chen, S; Xu, H; Liu, P; Yin, H; Zhao, H, Solar-Driven Atmospheric Water Production Through Hierarchically Ordered Porous Carbon for Self-Sustaining Green Hydrogen Production, Advanced Materials, 2025, pp. e11336

Collections