A research team led by Associate Professor Xiao Xin from the School of Environment of DHU has made a significant breakthrough in the development of hygroscopic phase change materials and atmospheric water harvesting technologies. Their findings were recently published in the internationally recognized journal Applied Thermal Engineering under the title “Investigation on hygroscopic phase change capsules for thermal and humidity regulation and atmospheric water harvesting.”
The paper’s first author is Huyan Wenjing, an undergraduate student from the 2022 cohort majoring in Building Environment and Energy Application Engineering (BEEE). Gou Jiayu and Lu Ruiqi, undergraduate students from the 2023 cohort of the same major, are co-authors. Associate Professor Xiao Xin serves as the corresponding author. The study was supported by the China National University Student Innovation & Entrepreneurship Development Program. The three student authors have previously earned the National Second Prize in the National College Students Social Practice and Science Contest on Energy Saving & Emission Reduction and the Provincial First Prize in the China National College Students Competition on Energy Economics.
Amid mounting global challenges of building energy consumption and water scarcity, Xiao’s team has developed an innovative hygroscopic phase change capsule material that offers a new pathway for achieving energy-efficient buildings and sustainable water collection. By ingeniously coupling hygroscopic materials with phase change materials, the team created a composite material that simultaneously regulates indoor temperature and humidity, reduces air conditioning energy use, and captures moisture from the atmosphere for water harvesting. The key breakthroughs of this research include the successful development of a dual-function material system that integrates hygroscopic and phase change capabilities, achieving a high moisture sorption capacity of 0.58 g/g at 80% relative humidity and demonstrating superior humidity control performance. The study introduces a structural innovation through the use of a sodium alginate three-dimensional network to encapsulate the phase change material, coupled with an ultrasonic-assisted impregnation process, which effectively resolves the common issues of leakage and limited service life in traditional materials. Furthermore, the research achieves sustainable water production by developing a prototype passive atmospheric water harvesting device based on this material, which operates without external energy input and attains a daily water yield of 0.54 L/kg with a moisture desorption rate of 95% within six hours under solar-driven conditions. The material maintained over 95% of its performance after 50 testing cycles, demonstrating outstanding stability and durability.
