A material that steals oxygen from the environment and releases it back, as well, has been developed by scientists and researchers from the University of Southern Denmark.

Professor Christine McKenzie and Jonas Sundberg from the Department of Physics, Chemistry, and Pharmacy have synthesized a crystalline material that binds and stores high concentrations of oxygen.

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The key component of the new material is the element cobalt bound in a specially designed organic molecule. The cobalt gives the new material the molecular and electronic structure that gives it the absorbing capability.

This process is present in most breathing creatures, as humans use iron and other animals use copper.

Using x-ray diffraction, researchers studied the arrangements of atoms inside the material when it was filled with and emptied of any oxygen.

The material adsorbs oxygen through a process called chemisorption, a kind of adsorption that involves a chemical reaction between the adsorbate and the surface. New chemical bonds are generated at the adsorbant surface.

McKenzie points out the material is both a sensor and a container for oxygen since it can be used to store, transport, and release oxygen.

She goes on to say the material is so effective that only a spoonful's worth of it is enough to suck out all the oxygen in a room. The absorption and binding rate is 160 times larger than the concentration around us.

Oxygen that is bound and stored can be easily released by gently heating the material or subjecting it to low oxygen pressures.

The material absorbs oxygen at different rates, depending on the atmospheric oxygen content, temperature, pressure, and other factors.

The different versions of the substance allow it to adsorb oxygen at a faster rate, however.

TagsCobalt, Oxygen, Steal, University of Southern Denmark, Christine MCKenzie, Jonas Sundberg