Artificial leaf could grow a layer of ice in desert conditions

‘Sunglacier’, as the project has been dubbed, will feature a 200m² surface covered in photovoltaic solar cells, which will power cooling condensers on the underside of the elm leaf-shaped structure to soak up humidity from the desert air and turn it into ice.

Ap Verheggen, the artist behind the project, hopes it will encourage people to believe that the impossible is possible when it comes to dealing with climate change.

‘The project works on the basic principles of condensation. We believe the higher the humidity the more ice we can produce,’ the project’s leading engineer, Jan Alkemaide, told The Engineer.

Deserts are notoriously dry but Verheggen said: ’Our studies in Egypt have shown that the Sahara has roughly the same amount of moisture in the air as the Netherlands.’

The project is currently going through preliminary testing in the Netherlands. So far, Dutch engineers working for Cofely, a refrigeration company that makes ice rinks and custom-designed cooling units for food storage, have managed to create a 10cm-thick slab of ice on aluminium inside a shipping container that simulates desert conditions, at a temperature of 30ºC.