Development of Atmospheric Water Harvesting System Based on Elastomeric Network

The lack of fresh water is a global issue that affects the survival of living beings. An effective way to address the impending water issue is to collect fresh water from the atmosphere. This study focuses on developing a sustainable and eco‐friendly atmospheric water harvesting system utilizing a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) elastomeric network. The water harvesting system was fabricated by dip‐coating cotton mesh with PDMS and PDMS‐tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS). The water accumulation capability of the PDMS elastomeric mesh (PEM) and TEOS‐modified PEM were evaluated over 7 h, and the volume of water collected during each hour was quantified. The physicochemical and mechanical characterizations of the PDMS and PDMS‐TEOS films were also performed. The PEM demonstrated the capability to gather 2.71 ± 0.22 kg m −2 water, and the addition of TEOS increased the water collection to 4.09 ± 0.16 kg m −2 . Modifying elastomeric mesh with TEOS significantly improved the water harvesting rate by 50.92% ( p < 0.05). The hydrophobicity of the PDMS and PDMS‐TEOS films are assessed by static contact angle measurements, and there is a significant reduction in the hydrophobicity of PDMS from 115.47°± 2.05 to 106.9° ± 3.33 with the addition of the TEOS ( p < 0.05).