Accidental Discovery: Nanomaterial Harvests Water from Air Without External Energy
2025-05-26
A serendipitous observation in a Penn Engineering lab has led to the discovery of a new class of nanostructured materials that can extract water from the air, collect it in pores, and release it onto surfaces without needing external energy. This material, a blend of hydrophilic nanopores and hydrophobic polymers, uses capillary condensation to capture moisture from the air, even at low humidity, and expels it as droplets. The discovery holds promise for passive water harvesting in arid regions and for cooling electronics or buildings using evaporative cooling.
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