Imagine tapping into the air around you to quench your thirst in remote villages or arid cities. A new nanotech breakthrough might make this everyday reality.
Researchers from the Australian Research Council Center of Excellence for Carbon Science and Innovation (ARC COE-CSI) teamed up with Nobel laureate Prof. Kostya Novoselov of the National University of Singapore and partners spanning Australia, China, Japan, Singapore and India to create a game-changing material.
Dubbed a calcium-enhanced graphene oxide aerogel, this featherweight marvel adsorbs water vapor over three times faster than existing solutions and can hold more than three times its own weight in water. The secret? Calcium ions trigger a "1+1>2" molecular synergy, strengthening hydrogen bonds and supercharging water capture.
Once saturated, the aerogel releases water with just 50°C of heat—low enough to run on simple solar heaters. That matters: 2.2 billion people still lack safe drinking water, yet Earth’s atmosphere holds 13 million gigalitres of moisture ready for harvesting.
“This stronger than expected hydrogen bonding is one of the reasons for the material’s extreme ability to adsorb water,” explains Ren Xiaojun from UNSW’s School of Materials Science and Engineering. Associate Professor Rakesh Joshi adds, “Our technology will have application in any region where we have sufficient humidity but limited access to clean potable water.”
The team combined lab experiments with supercomputer simulations at Australia’s National Computational Infrastructure in Canberra. Published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study has industry partners racing to scale the aerogel for real-world impact.
Next stops? Off-grid villages, arid farming regions and disaster zones where clean water is critical. For young entrepreneurs and changemakers, this aerogel could spark new ventures and drive sustainable solutions worldwide.
Reference(s):
cgtn.com
