Wood-Based Sponge Produces Clean Water from Air

A collaboration between Dr. Derek Hao of Melbourne's RMIT University, Dr. Junfeng Hou of Zhejiang A&F University, and five other research institutes in China has led to the development of a new sponge device that can extract clean drinking water from air, even in the driest climates and freezing temperatures.

The sponge, shaped like a cube and measures just 15 cubic millimeters, is composed of refined balsa wood. It is infused with lithium chloride and then coated with a solar-absorbing layer made of carbon nanotubes.

Wood, which is naturally porous, can absorb water through its internal network of channels. But when combined with lithium chloride, the sponge's water-absorbing ability is greatly enhanced.

The water extracted from the air gets stored in the sponge. It only gets released with the help of sunlight. Exposure to sunlight heats up the sponge and activates the release of purified water. The carbon nanotube coating filters out impurities, and the clean water is collected in a cup.

To test the device's effectiveness, the team ran a series of laboratory experiments. They discovered that at 90% humidity, it is capable of absorbing about 2 ml of water per gram, and approximately 0.6 ml per gram at 30% humidity.

They also tested it in real-world outdoor conditions. When placed outside overnight, the sponge collected up to 2.5 ml of water per gram. During the day, it released nearly all of the absorbed moisture with 94% efficiency. The team also noted that the device functioned properly even after 10 cycles and registered a performance decline of only less than 12%.

To improve the device's design, the researchers turned to machine learning. They utilized forest models, long short-term memory (LSTM) networks, and the Shapley Additive Explanations (SHAP) method to predict its performance and absorption capacity under different environmental conditions.

Read the full article here to learn more about the sponge device.

Struggling with inconsistent water quality? Achieve reagent-grade water with Aqua Solutions' trusted purification systems. Learn more at https://www.aquaa.com.