A scientist named Dr. Shing-Chung (Josh) Wong has developed "a bio-inspired approach for a novel bead-on-string nanofiber with hydrophobicity/ hydrophilicity simultaneously by electrospinning-enabled technique, that can be used as a high-performance water harvester" to collect potable water from the air, even in desert environments:
To miniaturize water generation and improve the efficiency, Wong and his students at the University of Akron turned to electrospun polymers, a material they had already worked with for more than a decade. Electrospinning uses electrical forces to produce polymer fibers ranging from tens of nanometers up to 1 micrometer—an ideal size to condense and squeeze water droplets out of the air. These nanoscale fiber polymers offer an incredibly high surface-area-to-volume ratio, much larger than that provided by the typical structures and membranes used in water distillers.
By experimenting with different combinations of polymers that were hydrophilic—which attracts water—and hydrophobic—which discharges water, the group concluded that a water harvesting system could indeed be fabricated using nanofiber technology. Wong's group determined that their polymer membrane could harvest 744 mg/cm2/h, which is 91 percent higher than similarly designed membranes without these nanofibers.
Unlike existing methods, Wong's harvester could work in arid desert environments because of the membrane's high surface-area-to-volume ratio. It also would have a minimal energy requirement.
Wong says that the device should be inexpensive to construct, and he's looking for funding to build a prototype.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by MostCynical on Wednesday August 22 2018, @09:32AM (3 children)
everything is inexpensive when someone else is paying.
If it is cheap enough, he should have had no trouble finding investors.
Conclusions: the university is no good at raising money and/or the prototype isn't *that* inexpensive.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 22 2018, @09:47AM (1 child)
Yeah, this guy has been Wong his entire life.
(Score: 2) by stormreaver on Wednesday August 22 2018, @11:13AM
That reminds me of the Grand Theft Auto: Vice City ad for Mr. Wong's Laundromat: "If it ain't Wong, it ain't white".
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Wednesday August 22 2018, @05:20PM
Or he knows how to get free advertising.