This solar-powered device harvests water from dry air.
Scientists at MIT and UC Berkeley have created a prototype that does just that — and it only requires 20-30 percent humidity to work.
MOFs are compounds created by combining metals with organic molecules.
In this case, Yaghi and his team at Berkeley created a MOF that binds to water.
It’s a passive device, requiring no other energy source than the sun — and doesn’t even need very bright sunlight to function.
Both Yaghi and Wang believe they’ve barely tapped the concept’s potential.
Future MOFs might be able to absorb 40 percent or more.
Freshwater scarcity is a global problem of immense proportions that does not receive nearly the attention that it should.
Recent estimates show that 4 billion people — that’s two-thirds of the world’s population — experience acute water scarcity at least one month of the year.
California’s historically severe drought has finally just ended, but the state typically experiences big fluctuations in rainfall from year to year.