DRINKING WATER IN THE AIR: ONLY AN HYDROGEL IS NEEDED FOR ITS COLLECTION

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Surely you have found it more than once when opening the box of an electronic device that you had bought These transparent balls, which usually come in a small bag, are spheres of silica gel, a material that, due to its excellent moisture absorption capabilities, is used to prevent oxidation and deterioration of electronic systems. In principle, such a material would be an excellent candidate for trapping atmospheric water in arid areas or areas without access to potable water, and that is what researchers at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) have thought English) in Saudi Arabia. The innovative system that they have presented, based on a modified hydrogel, is capable of collecting the equivalent of its weight in atmospheric water, even in conditions of low environmental humidity But before getting there, this technological project has had to overcome some obstacles.

Its solution uses calcium chloride, a highly efficient chemical component So much so that, at room temperature, a layer of calcium chloride can become a puddle This property is called deliquescence or hygroscopia However, in the case of calcium chloride, there is an obvious drawback: the resulting water is brine For this reason, the scientists decided to take advantage of this quality, but integrating the salt into hydrogel bubbles that forced it to maintain a solid state

Next, to ensure easy release of the captured water, they added a very small proportion of carbon nanotubes (0 42% of the total weight) These structures are extremely efficient when it comes to absorbing solar radiation and, therefore, the heat that promotes the evaporation of water

The first test used just thirty-five grams of the material, which managed to capture thirty-seven grams of water over the course of one night Then the next morning, with just two and a half hours of sun exposure, the hydrogel released the water in the device's chamber

We have already talked on other occasions about atmospheric water collection devices such as harp systems or prototypes based on metal-organic materials (MOF) However, many of them are bulky or have a high cost. This Saudi hydrogel, by contrast, is a highly competitive technique: the cost of collecting three liters of water could be as low as half a cent per day. And that amount of water would be enough to cover the water needs of an adult

The king of absorption

The hydrogel devised by the KAUST scientists is highly efficient at generating drinkable water, but pales in comparison to the absorbent qualities of the material they have created at the National University of Singapore (NUS) In their case, they have been based on zinc oxide to create an innovative material capable of absorbing an amount of water equivalent to 230% of its weight This zinc oxide hydrogel applied to a wall is capable of reducing the relative humidity of a room by 20% in the course of a few minutes In addition to dehumidifying the environment in hot countries, this new material would have interesting applications in the field of electronics

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