A strange new material can instantly vaporize water using only sunlight

A new material that's coated in gold absorbs so much light that it looks black to human eyes.Tiny pores lined with gold nanoparticles trap about 99% of light that touches the material, called "Au/NPT" (for "gold nanoporous template"), researchers reported April 8 in Science Advances.That's strange enough on its own. But when the researchers placed their Au/NPT sheet on a film of water, it vaporized the liquid so fast that it turned straight into steam, skipping the boiling step altogether, Science News reported.This happens because the gold nanoparticles (which are much, much smaller than the eye can see) absorb nearly all of the light that hits them. That's a stark contrast to the shiny pieces of gold we accustomed to fawning over.The way the researchers constructed their gold nanoparticlesthen used them to coat a porous sheet of aluminum oxidethey trap enough light to superheat surrounding water and flash it into steam.This isn't the first material that uses light to create steamother teams have made similar materials that can do it. For example, another team in 2012 vaporized water using gold nanoparticles. But the Washington Post reported the tiny particles were dissolved in water instead of contained in a sheet, like the new material.But the researchers behind the new Au/NPT say their material is the most efficient so far, since it can soak up more energy by absorbing more light at different wavelengths.Why is turning water into steam worthwhile' As the Washington Post explains, steam engines are what drove the Industrial Revolution.Today, this kind of material could drive a new revolution of more efficient desalination plants, which turn saltwater (which we have a ton of) into fresh water (which we have less and less of). The material could also potentially power traditional steam engines in a brand-new way.This research is still in the lab, so it could be a while before the researchers can scale it up for industry, and vaporize water sans boiling on a large scale.Join the conversation about this storyNOW WATCH: Giant floating solar panels are saving a water company millions of dollars
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