A bucket-full of this material can absorb all the oxygen in a room

The stored oxygen can be easily released again whenever and wherever needed
October 1, 2014

This exotic crystalline material changes color when absorbing or releasing oxygen. Crystals are black when saturated with oxygen and pink when the oxygen has been released. (Credit: University of Southern Denmark)

A new crystalline material absorbs 160 times more oxygen than in the air around you — only a spoonful bucket-full (10 liters) of it is enough to suck up all the oxygen in a room, according to its developer, Professor Christine McKenzie in the Department of Physics, Chemistry and Pharmacy at the University of Southern Denmark.

A few grains of this material might absorb enough oxygen from the water around a diver for normal breathing, and lung patients could scrap their heavy oxygen tanks, she says.

Different absorption and release rates are also possible by using different chemical configurations. A gas mask containing layers of such different materials could actively supply a person with oxygen directly from the air.

Oxygen is released by simply gently heating the material or subjecting it to low oxygen pressures.

The secret? “Crystalline salts of a series of cationic multi-metallic cobalt complex,” say McKenzie and associates, writing in the journal Chemical Science, published by the Royal Society of Chemistry.

“When the substance is saturated with oxygen, it can be compared to an oxygen tank containing pure oxygen under pressure — the difference is that this material can hold three times as much oxygen,” says McKenzie.

Once it’s packaged and available commercially, it might be something any heart patient, doctor, traveler, explorer, or emergency worker would want to keep handy.


University of Southern Denmark | A spectacular single crystal-to-single crystal transformation