Abstract
Freshwater scarcity poses an escalating threat to global sustainability, yet sorption-based atmospheric water harvesting offers a compelling solution by extracting moisture directly from air, independent of geographic constraints. A critical bottleneck limiting sorption-based atmospheric water-harvesting capacity, however, remains the sluggish kinetics of sorption–desorption cycling. While traditional strategies attempt to address this through single-scale macropore or air-duct engineering, they fail to achieve the multiscale transport regulation necessary for rapid water production. Here we report a heat-post-process-assisted three-dimensional printing strategy to fabricate a multiscale aluminophosphate fractal framework with hierarchical porous structures. This approach enables synergistic water transport across multiple scales: heat-activated pores at the nano- and microscales facilitate rapid intracrystalline and intercrystalline diffusion, while optimized fractal channels at the macroscale minimize surface mass-transfer resistance. Consequently, the framework exhibits sorption–desorption kinetics ten times faster than state-of-the-art sorbents. Leveraging this material, we demonstrate a scalable sorption-based atmospheric water-harvesting device utilizing multiscale aluminophosphate fractal frameworks with hierarchical porous structure arrays that achieves exceptional water productivity of 3.77–5.20 lwater kgsorbent−1 d−1. This multiscale design paradigm provides a robust pathway for the development of high-performance, scalable water harvesting technologies.
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Acknowledgements
We gratefully acknowledge support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars (grant no. 52325601 to T.L.), the Major Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 52293412 to T.L.), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant nos. 52576219 and 52206266 to J.X.), the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (grant no. XDA 0400102 to M.X.) and the Special Funds for Science and Technology Innovation of Carbon Peaking and Carbon Neutrality in Jiangsu Province (grant no. BE2022614 to M.X.).
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Contributions
Z.B. and T.L. designed and coordinated the study. Z.B. optimized the ink formulation, carried out the 3D printing experiments, conducted the water sorption‒desorption experiments and simulations. Z.B. and J.X. designed the figures and prepared the manuscript. P.X. contributed to the conceptualization of diffusion coefficients. X. He, Z.W., T.Q., L.C. and Y.X. conducted the STEM characterization and simulation. M.X. and X. Huai contributed to the synthesis of aluminophosphate. M.X. and J.X. conducted the computational study on water sorption mechanisms of aluminophosphate. Z.B., J.X., P.W., D.W., Z.A. and S.Y. contributed to the experiments. Z.B., J.X., P.W., R.W. and T.L. examined the results and revised the manuscript. T.L. supervised the project. All the authors contributed to the final manuscript.
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Nature Sustainability thanks Qiang Fu, Renyuan Li, Johan A. Martens and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.
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Extended data
Extended Data Fig. 1 Geometric dimensions.
Geometric dimensions of the sorbent monoliths with zero order, one order, two orders, three orders, and four orders (expressed in mm).
Extended Data Fig. 2 3D printing of the aluminophosphate sorbent monolith.
a, Scaled-up production of the aluminophosphates by hydrothermal synthesis. b, Prepared kg-scale aluminophosphate powders. c, Optical image of the aluminophosphate powders for preparing the printing ink. d, Aluminophosphate-based printing ink. e, Printing ink in the barrel. f, Rheological properties of the aluminophosphate-based printing ink: apparent viscosity as a function of shear rate. g, Storage modulus (G′) and loss modulus (G″) of the printing ink as a function of shear stress. h, 3D printing of the bottom (first) layer of the monolith. i, 3D printing of the top (last) layer of the monolith. Scale bars, 20 cm (b), 2 cm (c, e), 1 cm (d, h, i).
Extended Data Fig. 3 3D printing of the OPS and heat-post-process-assisted 3D printing of the MAFF-HPS.
a, Synthesis of the OPS monolith with pore blockage due to the invasion of the binding agents around the crystals and inside their micropores. b, Thermogravimetry analysis of the robustly-packed aluminophosphate monolith to guide the two-step heatpost-process. c, Temperature-dependent in situ X-ray diffraction of the aluminophosphate powders (i) and the MAFF-HPS monolith (ii), indicating the successive removal of the binders and the SDA.
Extended Data Fig. 4 Performance and characterizations of the MAFF-HPS and the OPS.
a, SEM image of the MAFF-HPS, showing its structural integrity by the sintered particles. b, Nitrogen sorption‒desorption isotherms of the MAFF-HPS and the OPS. c, Micropore surface areas of the MAFF-HPS and the OPS. d, Micropore volumes of the MAFF-HPS and the OPS. e, SEM image of the OPS monolith, showing the absence of macropores as a result of the binder-blockage. f, Thermal conductivities of the MAFF-HPS monolith and the aluminophosphate powders at 25 °C and 80 °C, indicating the enhanced heat transfer capacity of MAFF-HPS. Scale bars, 200 nm (a, e).
Extended Data Fig. 5 Experimental device for testing the water sorption‒desorption kinetics.
a, Sorption kinetics test with controlled inlet temperature, humidity, and air flowrate. b, Desorption kinetics test with the detachable electric heater positioned. c, Optical image of the device. d, Side view of the sorbent module.
Extended Data Fig. 6 Simulation of water uptake profiles of different hierarchical porous structures of MAFF-HPS-0, MAFF-HPS-1, MAFF-HPS-2, and MAFF-HPS-3.
a, Water sorption profiles at 25 °C, 30% RH. b, Water desorption profiles at 80 °C, 9% RH. c-f, Simulated water uptake profiles on their cross sections 10 min, 20 min, 30 min, and 40 min respectively into the sorption.
Extended Data Fig. 7 Numerical results of the mass transport resistance of different hierarchical porous structures.
a, Mass transport resistance of MAFF-HPS-0. b, Mass transport resistance of MAFF-HPS-1. c, Mass transport resistance of MAFF-HPS-2. d, Mass transport resistance of MAFF-HPS-3. e, Comparison of the total mass transport resistances of MAFF-HPS-0, MAFF-HPS-1, MAFF-HPS-2, and MAFF-HPS-3. f, Comparison of the intercrystalline and the intracrystalline resistances of the MAFF-HPS and the OPS.
Extended Data Fig. 8 Water sorption‒desorption kinetics of the OPS and the MAFF-HPS.
a, Sorption at 25 °C, 15% RH, and desorption at 80 °C. b, Sorption at 25 °C, 60% RH, and desorption at 80 °C. c, Water sorption‒desorption kinetics of the MAFF-HPS with a thickness of ~1.5 mm. The inset is the sorbent monolith with the reduced thickness. Sorption at 25 °C, 30% RH, and desorption at 80 °C. Scale bar, 1 cm (c).
Extended Data Fig. 9 Water sorption and desorption properties of the MAFF-HPS.
a, Comparison of water sorption kinetics of recently reported sorbents under ~30% RH (see Supplementary Table 3), indicating the remarkably accelerated sorption rate of the MAFF-HPS16,17,28,29,30,31,32,33. b, Water sorption isotherms of the MAFF-HPS at 20 °C, 30 °C, and 40 °C. c, Water sorption‒desorption cycles of the MAFF-HPS under the sorption testing conditions of 30 °C and 30% RH (1275 Pa), and desorption of 80 °C and 9% RH (4250 Pa). d, Water uptake of the MAFF-HPS during the desorption at 65 °C, 70 °C, and 80 °C. e, Effects of air flowrate on water uptake kinetics of the MAFF-HPS (sorption at 25 °C and 30% RH, and desorption at 80 °C). f, Comparison of the simulated and the experimentally measured water uptake profiles (at 30% RH with 25 °C and 9% RH with 80 °C and the air flowrate of 0.7 m s−1).
Extended Data Fig. 10 Demonstration of the scalable SAWH prototype based on the MAFF-HPS array.
a, Water sorption‒desorption profile of a 1*4 sorbent array, proving the undegraded rapid sorption‒desorption kinetics of the scaled-up sorbent units. The inset is the sorbent array with the moisture flow marked. b, Indoor water yields by the MAFF-HPS arrays over the consecutive water capture‒release cycles within 24 hours under sorption conditions of 30% and 60% RH. c, Operating principles of the active SAWH system with a heat reclaimer for outdoor rapid-cycling water harvesting from air. d, (i) Photographs of the MAFF-HPS monoliths in outdoor experiments. (ii) Photograph of the electric heater. (iii) Collected water from the 24-hour outdoor SAWH. Scale bar, 1 cm (d).
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Supplementary Notes 1–5 and Tables 1–4.
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3D printing of the aluminophosphate sorbent monolith.
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Bai, Z., Xu, J., Wang, P. et al. 3D-printed multiscale-ordered hierarchical frameworks for rapid atmospheric water harvesting. Nat Sustain (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-026-01834-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-026-01834-7
