Science Daily August 16, 2023 An international team of researchers (Switzerland, Germany, USA – UC Berkeley) has demonstrated a rationally designed system that can capture fog at high efficiency while simultaneously degrading organic pollutants. Their design consists of a wire mesh coated with anatase titanium dioxide nanoparticles embedded in a polymer matrix. Once activated by sunlight, the photoactive titanium dioxide layer decomposed organic molecules such as diesel, even in the absence of sunlight. The wettability of the mesh surface was engineered to enhance water extraction. In outdoor tests, the device could maintain a good fog harvesting performance as well as […]
Tag Archives: Pollution mitigation
Oil eating microbes reshape droplets to optimize biodegradation
Phys.org August 18, 2023 Certain marine bacteria can degrade small-molecule hydrocarbons, but there is still limited understanding on how this process works in biofilms. An international team of researchers (Japan, France, UK) showed that Alcanivorax borkumensis initially formed a spherical biofilm around a droplet of hexadecane, which grew and buckled. This transition was caused by an initial limited interaction with the oil by only some of the cells, followed by rapid cell growth and division that distorts the shape of the biofilm, leading to an increase in the surface area and acceleration in the rate of consumption. They identified a […]
Researchers develop eco-friendly materials capable of purifying water
Phys.org December 29, 2022 Current water purification technology shows slow adsorption of micropollutants and requires an energy-intensive process for VOCs removal. Researchers in South Korea have developed an efficient molecularly engineered covalent triazine framework (CTF) for rapid adsorption of micropollutants and VOC-intercepting performance using solar distillation. Supramolecular design and mild oxidation of CTFs (CTF-OXs) enabled hydrophilic internal channels and improve molecular sieving of micropollutants. CTF-OX showed rapid removal efficiency of micropollutants (>99.9% in 10 s) and it could be regenerated several times without performance loss. Uptake rates of selected micropollutants were high. Photothermal composite membrane fabrication using CTF-OX exhibited high […]
Research on levitating oil droplets may help reduce air pollution
Phys.org October 13, 2021 Unsaturated fatty acids contribute to urban cooking emissions and sea spray aerosols. The phase state of organic aerosols is a significant factor in determining aerosol reactivity, water uptake and atmospheric lifetime with wide implications for cloud formation, climate, air quality and human health. Researchers in the UK studied physical and chemical changes in crystalline acid–soap complex in acoustically levitated oleic acid–sodium oleate particles during exposure to humidity and the atmospheric oxidant ozone. It revealed a phase gradient consisting of a disordered liquid crystalline shell and crystalline core. Ozonolysis is significantly slower in the crystalline phase compared […]
Chemists convert plastic bottle waste into insecticide sorbent
Phys.org December 23, 2020 An international team of researchers (Russia, China, Czech Republic, South Korea) created a sorbent that belongs to metal-organic frameworks, for imidacloprid insecticide removal from water. They developed a method to synthesize a metal-organic framework named UiO-66 with zirconium ions. The framework is sensitive to imidacloprid and due to its porosity and physicochemical properties, it attracts insecticide molecules removing them from water. In tests effective water purification took 15 grams of sorbent per liter. The sorbent may be reused several times. They reached up to five cycles during experiments. In the future the sorbent can be used […]