BOSTON: Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have unveiled a game-changing water harvester that can extract clean drinking water straight from the air — even in one of the driest places on Earth. The device, which looks like a panel of bubble wrap sandwiched between glass layers, was tested in California’s Death Valley and successfully produced between 57 to 161 millilitres of potable water daily.
Designed using a highly absorbent hydrogel shaped into dome-like bubbles, the panel captures water vapour overnight. Then, in the daytime, sunlight heats the gel while a special coating on the outer glass keeps it cool. This temperature contrast causes water to condense and trickle down for collection.
One of the biggest breakthroughs is in water safety. Past hydrogel-based devices risked contaminating collected water due to lithium salts used to aid absorption. MIT’s version uses glycerol to stabilise the gel, keeping lithium levels far below safe drinking water limits.
The system operates entirely without electricity, making it ideal for remote or off-grid areas. Although a single panel won’t meet daily water needs, researchers say an array of eight 1-by-2 metre panels could support a small household. With a lifespan of at least a year, the system could recover its cost within a month compared to regular bottled water use in the US.
MIT engineer Xuanhe Zhao, one of the study’s lead authors, noted, “Now people can build it even larger, or make it into parallel panels, to supply drinking water to people and achieve real impact.”
Published in Nature Water, the innovation offers scalable hope for water-scarce regions. The team plans to test the panel further in various climates to improve performance and efficiency.
-Agencies
