Scientists have taken inspiration from roses to develop a low-cost device for collecting and purifying water.
The team developed a new approach to solar steaming for water production that uses energy from sunlight to separate salt and other impurities from water through evaporation.
In a study published in Advanced Materials, they outline how an origami rose provided the inspiration for developing a new kind of solar-steaming system made from layered, black paper sheets shaped into petals.
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Water finds its way to the petals where the polypyrrole material coating on the flower turns the water into steam. Impurities naturally separate when condensed in this way.
