A photo from open sources
A team of researchers found inspiration in an extremely atypical creature: in a small beetle from the Namibian desert that is capable of collect water molecules directly from the air. He learned to do this trick, developing on its wings a pattern of attractive and water repellent molecules that capture moisture from dry and hot desert air.
Scientists have adopted this idea and created material able to absorb water molecules from the air with billions of tiny carbon nanotubes.
In this technology, they used two polymer layers – water collector above and water repellent from below – in combination with one centimeter layer of carbon nanotubes. Upper layer draws water molecules into nanotubes without any additional external forces, and a water-repellent layer from below holds them inside. Nanotubes can be easily compressed and released accumulated water, after which the material can be used again.
Obviously, the more humid the surrounding air, the more water can absorb the nano sponge. Already preliminary tests showed that in a dry environment an 8 milligram sponge on over 11 hours able to absorb more than a quarter of its own water weight.
Water
