Cotton with special coating collects water from fogs in desert

In the Netherlands, researchers at Technische Universiteit Eindhoven and the Hong Kong Polytechnic University have developed a special treatment for cotton fabric that allows the cotton to absorb 340 % of its own weight in water from misty air. The researchers applied a coating of PNIPAAm, a polymer, to the cotton fabric. At lower temperatures, this cotton has a sponge-like structure at microscopic level. Up to a temperature of 34°C it absorbs water. Above that temperature it releases the pure, absorbed water. This property implies that the material may potentially be suitable for providing water in deserts or mountain regions, where the air is often misty at night.

More on the story.