Powered by Sun, Device Pulls Water from Dry Air

Researchers created the first water harvester that uses only ambient sunlight.


Imagine a future in which every home has an appliance that pulls all the water the household needs out of the air, even in dry or desert climates, using only the power of the sun.

That future may be around the corner, with the demonstration this week of a water harvester that uses only ambient sunlight to pull liters of water out of the air each day in conditions as low as 20 percent humidity, a level common in arid areas.

The solar-powered harvester, reported in the journal Science, was constructed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology using a special material -- a metal-organic framework, or MOF -- produced at the University of California, Berkeley.

The prototype, under conditions of 20-30 percent humidity, was able to pull 2.8 liters of water from the air over a 12-hour period, using one kilogram of MOF. Rooftop tests at MIT confirmed that the device works in real-world conditions.
    (Tasnim)
14/4/17