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Harvester pulls record amount of drinking water out of thin air As is the case with similar systems we've covered previously, the key lies with a material called a metal-organic framework (MOF). These structures have the highest surface area of any known material – in fact, if you were able to unfold just one gram of an MOF, it would be enough to cover a football field. And all that internal space makes them perfect for capturing and storing water. Plenty of previous studies have managed to use MOFs to absorb water vapor from the air and collect it in liquid form for drinking. Results have varied, from 100 ml of water per kilogram of MOF used with a UC Berkeley design in 2018, to over 1.3 L (0.3 gallons) per day per kg. But the new system smashes this record.
To create this better-performing new version, the team studied 10 different types of MOFs, examining which properties made them more effective. They also investigated how different environmental conditions, such as temperature and humidity, affected their ability to absorb water vapor. The team plans to continue looking into other types of MOFs and how they could be combined and configured, to see if this system could work more efficiently, and perhaps in drier conditions. After all, that's where potable water is most desperately needed. Source: Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab
Michael has always been fascinated by space, technology, dinosaurs, and the weirder mysteries of physics and the universe. With a Bachelor of Arts in Professional Writing under his belt, he’s been writing for various online outlets and print publications for eight years, and New Atlas for the last three years.
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