After being inspired by the Namib Desert Beetle, Scientist Deckard Sorenson has created a water bottle to mimic the beetle’s ability to pull water from the air. The Namib Desert Beetle lives in areas so dry that it uses its back to collect water from the air in order to survive. The self-filling water bottle works in a similar way, as it uses nanotechnology to pull water out of the air and fill itself. Sorenson hopes NBD Nano, the company he co-founded, can bring the product to market by 2014. He spoke to PRI saying, “We see this being applicable to anything from marathon runners to people in third-world countries, because we realize that water is such a large issue in the world today, and we want to try to alleviate those problems with a cost-efficient solution.” He added, “We are looking to incorporate this in greenhouses or green roofs in the immediate future, and then later on, we’re looking to see how far we can really scale this up to supply maybe farms or larger agricultural goals.“
Our air contains over three quadrillion gallons of water. In order to collect a portion of this, Sorensen coated a surface with hydrophobic and hydrophilic coatings.These coatings are anti-fogging agents, and allow the collected water to result in a non-scattered pool. He then used a fan to pass air over the surface allowing water to condense. His technique requires little energy and is powered by solar cells and a rechargeable battery.
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Claudia McNeilly writes for the Toronto Standard. You can follow her on twitter at @claudiamcneilly
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