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Among the most exciting news of the week, researchers at the University of Texas at Austin have developed a solar-powered device that absorbs moisture from the air and turns it into pure water .
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"Super sponges"
The technology is based on what scientists describe as "super sponges", hybrid hydrogel and gel-polymer materials designed to retain a lot of water.
These hydrogels can also release water during heating. "We have developed a completely passive system where all you have to do is let the hydrogel out and collect water," said Fei Zhao, postdoctoral researcher and co – author of the study.
"The collected water will remain stored in the hydrogel until you expose it to the sun.After about five minutes of natural light, the water is released."
The new technology is based on a breakthrough achieved in 2018 by the same team, which consisted of a solar powered water purification system that cleaned water from all sources. However, this last development uses the water present in the humidity that surrounds us.
Favorable to the energy
"The new material is designed both to recover the humidity of the air and to produce drinking water in the sunlight, avoiding an intensive energy consumption", said Guihua Yu, project manager, Associate Professor of Materials Science and Mechanical Engineering at the Cockrell School of Engineering at UT Austin.
Although the collection of water from moisture is not a new concept, most technologies using this process consume a lot of energy. The beauty of this new system lies in the fact that it only requires solar energy.
In addition, the new device is compact but efficient enough to generate daily water production that can reach 50 liters per kilogram of hydrogel according to the prototype tests. It's more than enough to meet the daily needs of a household.
As such, the device could have many applications in poverty-stricken areas or developing countries where access to water is extremely limited. But that's not all.
The system could be used to improve current water recovery techniques by making them more efficient and more energy efficient.
Yu and his team have already filed a patent and the study is published in a recent issue of the journal Advanced materials.
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