The rose is a symbol of love in popular culture, but now the flower could hold more than just symbolic value. A new device（装置） for collecting and purifying water, developed at The University of Texas at Austin,was inspired by a rose and is a great improvement on present methods. Each flower-like structure(构造) costs less than 2 cents and can produce more than half a gallon of water per hour per square meter.
A team led by professor Donglei Fan developed a new approach to solar steaming for water production-a technique that uses energy from sunlight to separate salt and other impurities from water.
In a paper published recently, the authors outline how a rose provided the inspiration for developing a new kind of solar-steaming system made from layered, black paper sheets shaped into petals(花瓣). Attached to a stem-like tube that collects untreated water from any water, the 3D rose shape makes it easier for the structure to collect and hold more liquid.
"We were searching for more effective ways to apply the solar-steaming technique for water production by using black filteredc过滤) paper coated with a special type of polymer(聚合物)," Fan said. She and her team experimented with different ways to shape the paper to see what was best. They began by placing single, round layers of the coated paper flat on the ground under direct sunlight. After toying with a few shapes, Fan was inspired by a book she read in high school. It gave her the idea to try using a flower-like shape, and she discovered the rose to be perfect.
The device collects water through its stem-like tube-feeding it to the flower-shaped structure on top. It can also collect rain drops coming from above. Water finds its way to the petals where the polypyrrole material coating the flower turns the water into steam. Impurities naturally separate from water.
