IIT-Guwahati develops method to harvest water from air
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Researchers declare their pitcher plant-inspired water harvester has excessive effectivity and can be utilized in underwater hulls of ships and submarines to stop bio-fouling
A staff of researchers on the Indian Institute of Technology-Guwahati (IIT-G) has developed a pitcher plant-inspired cheap method for harvesting water from humid air.
The method, developed by spraying a sponge-like porous polymeric materials on a easy A4 printer paper, can even utilized in underwater hulls of ships and submarines to stop bio-fouling in addition to to stop icing on plane home windows, the researchers stated.
The outcomes of the water-harvesting method, developed by the staff led by Uttam Manna of IIT-G’s Chemistry Department and the Centre of Nanotechnology, was printed within the journal of The Royal Society of Chemistry.
According to Dr. Manna, scientists worldwide have been making an attempt to construct applied sciences mimicking crops and bugs that may “pull out water from thin air”, each actually and figuratively.
“Such water harvesting techniques use the concept of hydrophobicity or water-repelling nature of some materials such as the lotus leaf”, he stated on Tuesday.
But such easy hydrophobicity is unsuitable for water harvesting from extremely humid environments as a result of excessive moisture content material can displace the trapped air and trigger everlasting harm. Researchers have thus taken inspiration from the insect-eating pitcher plant that has a slippery floor making bugs that land on it to fall into its tube-shaped construction to be digested.
The IIT-G researchers used the idea of chemically patterned slippery liquid-infused porous floor, or SLIPS for the primary time to successfully harvest water from moist or foggy air.
“We have produced a highly efficient water harvesting interface where the fog collecting rate is high”, Dr. Manna stated.
The researchers additionally in contrast the efficiency of their pitcher-plant impressed SLIPS supplies to different bio-inspired concepts and located theirs to be superior by way of effectivity of water harvesting.
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