2022-05-23 テキサス大学オースチン校(UT Austin)
研究チームは、最も乾燥した気候でも空気中から水を引き出せる、豊富な材料でできた低コストのゲルフィルムを開発した。この反応を促進する材料は1キログラムあたりわずか2ドルで、1キログラムで相対湿度15％未満の地域では1日に6リットル以上、30％までの地域では13リットルの水を生成することができます。
＜関連情報＞
- https://news.utexas.edu/2022/05/23/low-cost-gel-film-can-pluck-drinking-water-from-desert-air/
- https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-30505-2
乾燥環境における持続可能な水分保持のためのスケーラブルな高吸湿性ポリマーフィルム Scalable super hygroscopic polymer films for sustainable moisture harvesting in arid environments
Youhong Guo,Weixin Guan,Chuxin Lei,Hengyi Lu,Wen Shi & Guihua Yu
Nature Communications Published:19 May 2022
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-30505-2
Abstract
Extracting ubiquitous atmospheric water is a sustainable strategy to enable decentralized access to safely managed water but remains challenging due to its limited daily water output at low relative humidity (≤30% RH). Here, we report super hygroscopic polymer films (SHPFs) composed of renewable biomasses and hygroscopic salt, exhibiting high water uptake of 0.64–0.96 g g−1 at 15–30% RH. Konjac glucomannan facilitates the highly porous structures with enlarged air-polymer interfaces for active moisture capture and water vapor transport. Thermoresponsive hydroxypropyl cellulose enables phase transition at a low temperature to assist the release of collected water via hydrophobic interactions. With rapid sorption-desorption kinetics, SHPFs operate 14–24 cycles per day in arid environments, equivalent to a water yield of 5.8–13.3 L kg−1. Synthesized via a simple casting method using sustainable raw materials, SHPFs highlight the potential for low-cost and scalable atmospheric water harvesting technology to mitigate the global water crisis.
