A special sponge made of graphite can now be used to convert sunlight into steam energy.

MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) researchers that developed this sponge said their invention could lead to an efficient, inexpensive and emissions-free method of creating steam.

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The technology can also be used for sterilizing and desalination.

Gang Chen, head of MIT’s Mechanical Engineering Department, developed the sponge along with Hadi Ghasemi and other colleagues.

The sponge consists of a layer of graphite flakes on top of a carbon foam that floats on water. A hotspot produced in the graphite pulls water up via the porous material.

When heated, the rising water will evaporate as steam.

The porous material has so far converted 85 percent of sunlight into steam. Researchers also noted that a small amount of heat was wasted during the process.

Currently, solar thermal plants require energy equal to 1,000 times that of an average sunny day to heat water to produce steam.

MIT's new process, however, can produce steam with a solar intensity of only 10 times during a sunny day.

MIT's invention could help lower the cost required to generate steam.

“This is a huge advantage in cost-reduction. That’s exciting for us because we've come up with a new approach to solar steam generation,” Ghasemi said.

Chen said they still need to explore a lot of things before reaching the final step of their invention.

TagsMassachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT, Scientists, CLEAN ENERGY, solar energy, steam, Tech