Engineers from New York University Abu Dhabi have developed a technology to easily collect water from the atmosphere.
During the study, scientists observed for the first timespontaneous condensation of water and its movement over the surface of a slowly sublimating organic crystal. The analysis showed that the transition of water from a gaseous to a liquid state and the movement of the liquid in the desired direction are associated with a change in the width of small channels that appear on the surface of the crystal during sublimation.
Scientists describe condensation control andmovement of water using crystals of hexachlorobenzene, a compound often used as a fungicide. Due to sublimation (the transition from a solid to a gaseous state), the surface of this material has a rigid topography with clearly defined parallel channels.
Channel expansion on the crystal surface associated with sublimation. As the width of the channel changes, the particles are picked up and moved by the water along the channel. Image: NYUAD
Researchers have shown that small solidparticles such as dust or even metal nanoparticles autonomously move through such channels. In this case, the movement of particles is due to condensate, which migrates through the channels due to changes in the cross section and width of the channels over time.
Autonomous water flow has previously been achieved either through chemical surface modifications, or through precision-manufactured microchannels, or on the surface of various biological systems.
In the course of millennial evolutionary processesthe surfaces of natural organisms have been optimized to efficiently transport water for a variety of life-supporting functions. It has been observed, for example, that plants move water against gravity. Our team has discovered a new way to move water over a dynamic solid surface, a fundamentally new principle for collecting water.
Panche Naumov, co-author of the study, head of the Smart Materials Laboratory and director of the Center for Smart Engineering Materials at New York University Abu Dhabi
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