"It is... interesting that the material can absorb and release oxygen many times without losing the ability. It is like dipping a sponge in water, squeezing the water out of it and repeating the process over and over again," says Professor Christine McKenzie of the University of Southern Denmark. She and postdoc Jonas Sundberg have created a type of crystal that can extract the oxygen out of the air and release it again.
Oxygen is one of the most reactive elements on the Periodic Table. However, "An important aspect of this new material is that it does not react irreversibly with oxygen - even though it absorbs oxygen in a so-called selective chemisorptive process. The material is both a sensor, and a container for oxygen - we can use it to bind, store and transport oxygen - like a solid artificial hemoglobin", says Christine McKenzie ("Chemisorptive" is used as a form of the word "Chemisorption", which means that the oxygen is stuck to the crystal through chemical bonds. To put McKenzie's statement into simpler words, even though oxygen chemically adheres to this crystal, it is not inseparable from it).
The crystal is composed primarily of the element cobalt. Using x-ray technology, researchers have observed its molecular structure when it was saturated with oxygen and when it held none at all. What they saw didn't surprise them - after all, its structure is based on the structures in blood cells of all breathing creatures on Earth. We use iron in this "structure" (To clarify, iron is used in our hemoglobin) along with many other organisms, while some animals, like lobsters, use copper (Fun fact: this makes their blood appear blue. The hemoglobin in our system makes our blood red). This crystal, when saturated with oxygen, is pinkish-red, and when deprived of oxygen it is black. This is similar to the way our blood cells change color from bright red when it is full of oxygen to darker red when it does not carry as much. Depending on the external surroundings, this substance can take from seconds to days to absorb oxygen. Different versions of the crystalline material can absorb oxygen at different speeds. The material will retain the oxygen until it is exposed to heat or low oxygen pressures.
"...We are now wondering if light can also be used as a trigger for the material to release oxygen – this has prospects in the growing field of artificial photosynthesis", Mckenzie says.
Aside from artificial photosynthesis, this substance could prove to be useful in many ways. Currently, the atmosphere is about 21% oxygen, which is enough for us to be able to breathe. However, there are some occasions where more oxygen than normal is needed. Cars that use fuel cells, for example, need a supply of concentrated oxygen. Speaking of fuel cells, the creation of this crystal could also aid in the development of the "reverse fuel cell", where hydrogen and oxygen are separated and then recombined to get energy. It could also be used for oxygen therapy, which gives people who can't get enough oxygen naturally (like people with COPD) a higher-than-normal oxygen level to breathe in, but great care would have to be executed so that the oxygen level does not get too high, because oxygen in overly high amounts is poisonous.
This substance does not yet have a name, but one official name should be determined soon, as this product will be very useful in the medical and automobile industries.
Bibliography
http://www.sdu.dk/en/Om_SDU/Fakulteterne/Naturvidenskab/Nyheder/2014_09_30_iltsluger