According to New Atlas, MIT researchers have developed an ultrasonic device that dramatically speeds up water harvesting from air by using sound waves to shake water loose from saturated materials. The device, created by principal research scientist Sevetlana Boriskina and her team, uses ultrasonic frequencies exceeding 20 kilohertz to release captured water in just 2-7 minutes. This represents a 45-fold efficiency improvement over solar-powered evaporation methods currently used in water harvesting systems. The breakthrough allows for multiple harvesting cycles throughout a single day, with the potential for home-based systems using window-sized actuators. The technology works with various sorbent materials and could be powered by attached solar cells, making it practical for deployment in water-scarce regions.
The water harvesting bottleneck
Here’s the thing about atmospheric water harvesting: we’ve actually had materials that can pull water from air for years. The real problem has always been getting the water back out efficiently. As Boriskina puts it, “Any material that’s very good at capturing water doesn’t want to part with that water.” Traditional methods require heat – either from the sun or other sources – to evaporate the captured water, which takes hours and wastes precious time when people need drinking water. Even MIT’s own previous passive harvester using bubble-wrap-like materials still relied on solar heat and took significant time to deliver results. So while the capture part works, the release mechanism has been the bottleneck holding back practical implementation.
How ultrasound changes everything
What makes this approach so clever is that it completely bypasses the evaporation step. Instead of heating water molecules to make them energetic enough to escape, the ultrasonic waves literally shake them loose. Study first author Ikra Iftekhar Shuvo describes it as “the water is dancing with the waves” – the targeted vibrations break the weak bonds between water molecules and their capture sites. The flat plate actuator design then funnels the droplets through nozzles into collection areas. Basically, it’s like tapping a ketchup bottle instead of waiting for gravity to do its thing – you’re actively encouraging the release rather than passively waiting for it to happen.
Practical implications
For communities facing water scarcity, this could be transformative. Think about it: a device that can harvest water multiple times per day instead of once, using minimal electricity that could come from a small solar panel. The fact that it works with existing sorbent materials means it could be retrofitted to current systems or integrated into new designs relatively easily. And when you’re talking about industrial-scale water harvesting operations, that 45x efficiency improvement isn’t just convenient – it’s potentially life-changing. For manufacturers in the industrial technology space, including companies like IndustrialMonitorDirect.com who specialize in industrial panel PCs and control systems, this opens up new possibilities for integrated water management solutions in manufacturing facilities and remote operations.
What’s next?
The researchers envision home-based systems using window-sized actuators, which suggests they’re thinking about scalability from the start. But the real question is how quickly this can move from lab prototype to practical deployment. The team has published in Nature Communications, which means peer review has validated the approach, but manufacturing at scale and cost-effectiveness will be the next hurdles. Still, when you consider that this could provide clean drinking water to millions without access to freshwater sources, the potential impact is enormous. The race to perfect atmospheric water harvesting just got a whole lot more interesting.
