Sunlight and 3D Printing Help Turn Saltwater into Drinking Water

As we know, some parts of the world lack access to clean drinking water. One approach to providing people with drinkable water is the treatment of seawater. Desalination plants are often used for this purpose. However, they consume a large amount of energy, which presents a major drawback in terms of cost and sustainability. Researchers at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University have now developed a new method: a 3D-printed aerogel that uses only sunlight to turn saltwater into drinking water.

The scientists based their new method on an existing technique. It involves using solar-powered evaporators made from porous materials. The saltwater evaporates, and the vapor is collected. Once the vapor cools, it becomes desalinated, drinkable water. But there’s a catch: scalability. Although attempts have been made to scale up these evaporators, the output doesn’t increase at the same rate. That’s because in large, thick materials with tiny pores, the vapor also gets trapped. As a result, this method is not very efficient and works very slowly.

Credit: ACS Energy Letters, Xiaomeng Zhao, Yunfei Yang, Xuemin Yin, Zhuo Luo, Kit-Ying Chan, Xi Shen