New material provides clean water and electricity using nothing but the Sun::The material isn’t especially efficient, but improvements should be possible.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
This layered design takes its inspiration from plant leaves that also “display well-designed core-shell structures where the cuticle of the leaf protects the interior mesophyll tissue from dehydration and oxidation, while the stomata allow the free transport of gaseous water molecules,” the study authors note.
As a result, the temperature inside the aerogel increases, and the salty solution starts releasing water vapor, re-forming the original salt.
Carbon’s porous structure also aids in transferring heat and water molecules, making the desorption process effective.
This led to several improvements in their material’s design; for instance, the final aerogel structure has fewer pores and 10 times thicker external walls than the original.
Thanks to these changes, “Even under [pressure], the CB-PDMS@CNF could prevent the water from penetrating, showing good hydrophobicity and mechanical strength,” the researchers note.
The strong hydrophobic shell is also great at keeping the aerogel clean, as it separates any dust particles or contaminants that come along with water molecules.
The original article contains 637 words, the summary contains 159 words. Saved 75%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Taking this with a pinch of salt, but it looks like we’re on our way to electronic trees.
When the energy is free and plentiful like sunlight, efficiency is a nice to have more than a requirement.
