Scientists have created a wearable jacket that pulls drinking water straight from the air.
Engineers at the University of Texas at Austin designed the prototype using a special fabric called AirGel. The material is made from biomass-derived hydrogel fibers mixed with salt.
The jacket works by absorbing water vapor from the air. When heated by sunlight, the trapped moisture condenses into liquid. The water then flows into small detachable units on the jacket.
Those units can be removed and placed in a foldable collector. Heating them releases clean, drinkable water.
In tests, the jacket produced 400 to 900 milliliters of water per day. That’s about 14 to 30 ounces, depending on humidity levels.
Researchers say the fabric is three to ten times more efficient than older water-harvesting materials. Most older systems are bulky boxes or panels.
The breakthrough is in the design. The fibers don’t just absorb water. They create a fast pathway that moves water from vapor in the air, to liquid on the fiber, and into the textile.
This makes the system practical for real-world use, not just lab tests. The water collected was tested and met World Health Organization safety standards.
The jacket could help hikers, campers, soldiers, farm workers, and emergency responders. It’s useful anywhere clean water is hard to find.
The team now plans to use the same textile in backpacks, tents, and emergency shelters. The goal is portable water access for disaster relief and water-stressed regions.
