In an interview, MIT Prof. Gang Chen described the potential applications of his new spongelike structure to Kiley Kroh of ClimateProgress. "Think about water treatment, desalination or treating wastewater," Chen said. "One typical way is to evaporate the water, condense it; of course, you need an energy source to do that. In this case, if we can use solar energy, it could produce better technology."
Kristine Wong reports for Takepart, a division of Participant Media, that "MIT scientists have invented a simple but ingenious device" to generate steam. Gang Chen, who heads MIT's Department of Mechanical Engineering, explains what makes it work: "First, it’s black in color, so it absorbs the light very effectively. Secondly, it’s porous to allow water to come in. Third, it’s insulating, so it absorbs sunlight and turns it into heat."
Writing for DNews, Tracy Staedter highlights a new spongelike structure developed by MIT's Gang Chen and Hadi Ghasemi to turn sunlight into steam. "The advance could one day lead to an efficient, inexpensive and emission-free way for creating steam that could be used to not only generate steam for energy but also for desalination and sterilization," reports Staedter.