Sun-Powered Hydrogel Can Get Water Out Of Sea-Air

Extremely hydroscopic hydrogel sucks in water like crazy and then it releases it gets heated up to 45 degrees Centigrade by the sun. Currently, one kilogram can get over 10 liters of fresh water per day.

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Water is insanely valuable. And in many arid coastal areas around the world, large amounts of valuable freshwater evaporates from the surface of the ocean. This makes the air above the sea very humid. It would be of great benefit for the inhabitants of these lands if there was a way to capture the water and use it.

Tan Swee Ching from the National University of Singapore and his coworkers developed a new hydrogel that is highly efficient in capturing the moisture from the air above ocean water and turning it into freshwater. The new zinc-based hydrogel uses tiny nanopores. The creators claim it is extremely hydroscopic. It should be eight-times better at absorbing water than current similar materials like silicagel or calcium chloride. Another benefit of the new hydrogel is that in comparison with other already used materials it doesn't need electricity to release the water back. Another benefit is that the hydrogel can be reused more than a thousand times.

The hydrogel has already gone through real-life testing. The researchers placed floating devices with the hydrogel on the surface of the sea near a beach. As water vapor was evaporating the hydrogel was absorbing it. When the hydrogel was full of water the researchers took it out and placed it into a glass box that was fully lit by the Sun. Once the temperature of the hydrogel rose above 45 degrees Centigrade the hydrogel released all the absorbed water. In comparison, materials like silicagel have to be heated up to much higher temperatures and that usually requires an energy source.

At the moment, the hydroscopic hydrogel is being developed further. Ching and his team are trying to enhance its already amazing properties and optimize the process of getting fresh water from the humid sea air. At the moment it is capable of getting over 10 liters of freshwater per one kilogram of material per day.

The creators of the hydrogel are also very happy that it could be potentially used in a very large scale. It could become a key part of floating farms that would “mine” freshwater. This technology would then be very useful for many coastal farm communities where there is not enough freshwater.

Sources:

• http://news.nus.edu.sg/press-releases/nus-researchers-harvest-water-humid-air-above-sea-surfaces-using-novel-hydrogel

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