2023-06-16 11:45:11
Engineers have developed a superabsorbent material capable of absorbing a record amount of moisture from the air, even in typical desert conditions.
The achievement is the work of a team made up of Carlos Díaz-Marin, Leon Gaugler, Yang Zhong, Bachir El Fil, Xinyue Liu and Evelyn Wang, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States, as well as Gustav Graeber, from MIT and now from the Humboldt University of Berlin in Germany.
As the material absorbs water vapor, it can swell to accommodate more moisture. Even in very dry conditions, with 30% relative humidity, the material can absorb water vapor from the air and retain moisture without leaking. The water can then be heated, condensed, and collected as ultrapure water.
The transparent and rubbery material is made of hydrogel, a material that is already absorbent. The team improved the absorbency of the hydrogel by adding lithium chloride, a salt known to be a powerful desiccant.
The researchers found that they could add more salt to the hydrogel than was possible in previous studies. As a result, the salt-laden gel absorbed and retained an unprecedented amount of water, under a wide range of humidity levels, including very dry environmental conditions that previous materials with the ability to absorb water from the soil have not been able to cope with. air.
Discs made of the new material and housing water. (Photo: Gustav Graeber and Carlos D. Díaz-Marín. CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)
If it can be made quickly and on a large scale, superabsorbent gel could be used as a passive water collector, particularly in desert and drought-prone regions, where the material could continually absorb steam, which would then condense into potable water. The researchers also envision that the material could be installed in air conditioners as a low-energy dehumidifier module.
Graeber, Díaz-Marin and their colleagues discuss the technical details of the new material in the academic journal Advanced Materials, under the title “Extreme Water Uptake of Hygroscopic Hydrogels Through Maximized Swelling-Induced Salt Loading.” (Fountain: NCYT de Amazings)
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