Extracting clean water from the air without electricity

In 2050, more than half of the world’s population is expected to have experienced a shortage of water at some point in their life. Maria Strömme and her research group want to make it possible to access clean water and energy without depending on electricity. The idea is to make this technology usable in settings ranging from self-sufficient households to disaster areas that are in urgent need of water.

Clean water is in short supply in many parts of the world. In various places, materials scientists are developing methods for harvesting water from the air but can only achieve one harvest per day without adding electricity. Strömme’s research group seeks to take this research several steps further. One of the advances they are looking to achieve is multiple harvests per day. They also aim to develop a method to produce hydrogen from the water that is harvested. At present, 96 per cent of all hydrogen fuel comes from fossil sources.

Removing greenhouse gases from air

The basic technology involves using metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) – a kind of molecular variant of the Meccano construction set. A MOF is a solid porous substance built of metal ions that are bound together by organic molecules to form a network with internal cavities that things can be put into and removed from. Strömme’s research group wants to develop and optimise the surface chemistry, structure and photocatalytic properties of MOFs to make it possible to harvest water in widely varying atmospheric conditions. In addition, they aim to use photocatalysis to split the water in humidair so as to produce hydrogen using only solar energy.

The researchers are also the first to develop a three-dimensional printing technique (3DP) for manufacturing MOFs. The technique is called binder jetting. Using this printing technique, they aim to shape the MOFs so that as well as retaining their ability to capture water and produce hydrogen, they can also be used to remove greenhouse gases from the air.