2023-07-07 19:00:03
News JVTech In its fierce fight against drought, MIT stumbled upon an unexpected technology: baby diapers
Published on 07/07/2023 at 21:00
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One of the big problems in this period is the severe drought that begins. In some areas this will cause severe water shortages and the solutions are often expensive. MIT has exactly what it takes.
Layers to collect water
In the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) laboratories
a team of engineers recently presented a surprising discovery: a super-absorbent material capable of extracting a record amount of moisture from the air, even in very dry conditions. The researchers were inspired by hydrogels: elastic gels used in particular in baby diapers. Hydrogels are mostly made of water and some cross-linked polymer.
To improve these materials and make them more efficient in absorbing air vapour, the researchers came up with the idea of incorporating salts into the hydrogel. They found that certain salts, such as lithium chloride, were extremely effective at absorbing moisture. Lithium chloride was able to absorb more than 10 times its own mass of water. However, there remained the challenge of finding a way to store this extracted water.
The researchers wondered if it was possible to combine the properties of hydrogels and salts in a single material. Previous research had shown that there was a limit to the amount of salt one could incorporate in such a hydrogel, about 4 to 6 grams of salt per gram of polymer, which did not yield significant results. To circumvent this problem, the researchers decided to leave the hydrogel in a saline solution for a month, instead of the usual 24 to 48 hours.
A revolutionary solution
This simple method allowed the hydrogel to incorporate up to 24 grams of salt, which greatly improved its performance. The material obtained was transparent and elastic. To obtain pure water from this material, it was enough to heat it and condense it.
The potential applications of this material are numerous. It could be used to create passive water collectors in drought-prone areas, providing a valuable solution in areas where water is scarce. What’s moreit could be used in air conditioners to save energy by extracting moisture from the air. However, there are still challenges to be overcome to make this technology viable and profitable.
It is essential to learn how to manufacture this material quickly and inexpensively in order to be able to implement it on a large scale. In addition, it is crucial to find effective ways to recover the water extracted from the material for easy recycling. Despite these challenges, this discovery opens new perspectives in the field of water harvesting from the air and the efficient use of water resources, thus contributing to meeting the challenges related to the availability of water in the world.
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