Techno- Report #126 - 2D material for water purification
2D material for water purification
In a world increasingly polluted air is not the only thing or affects the product of industrial pollution, water is also affected by pollution, so the need to create systems that can not only recover the precious liquid, many water purifiers do not make it completely fit for human consumption. Today we will discover an ingenious system that uses a 2D material capable of purifying water quickly and economically.
The photocatalyst only needs sunlight to purify the water, the first prototype contains carbon and nitrogen, which indicates how cheap its production can be especially in countries with scarce resources, among the tests made in just 1 hour purify water for four people effectively eliminating 100% of bacteria, this ingenious research was carried out by scientists at the University of Sydney in Australia.
Among so many materials that were tested, the scientists managed to find in the graphite carbon nitrite sheet a reaction caused by sunlight that releases electrodes, eliminating microbes combined with oxygen.
Although it is not the first incursion in purifying water by photochemical reaction, all that is needed is a semiconductor material or to accelerate the speed of the reaction. In this way, most of the chlorinated, volatile and polyaromatic organic pollutants, formaldehyde and methyl mercaptan are eliminated.
Perhaps most importantly, photocatalysts are not toxic to water so there is no risk of water contamination by other toxic chemicals, such as chlorine, which can cause poisoning in humans. The ultra-thin sheets of graphitic carbon nitrite are provided with a layer of acidic chemicals and acetones that excite electrons towards the edges of the sheets, the electrons jump to the oxygen atoms in the water oxygenating such water or occurs with hydrogen peroxide.
The material being flat has unique properties rather than conductors such as copper or gold, indicating that less electricity is needed to transport energy. In the first prototype 100% of the bacteria that were introduced in the test water were killed, including the E. Coli bacteria, the sheets are glued to the surface of the interior of tanks to purify up to a maximum of 10 liters of water per hour, with only sunlight water can be purified, especially where there is no electricity, in addition the materials are cheap for the manufacture of the sheets.
Projects such as water purification will be very useful in the future for countries that have problems with contaminated water sources, which in turn costs the lives of many humans all for the ingestion of contaminated water, the other motivating factor are the materials for the manufacture of the sheets, there are systems that are very expensive for the materials, possessing materials easy to extract generates sustainability in low-income sectors that can acquire for a modest price the purifying sheets.
The other side of the coin is environmental pollution; if it is not stopped, the creation of new water or air purification systems will be in vain. The final point is to change the model of production in order to finally enjoy a balance, a balance that was intact for millions of years and which, thanks to the industrial revolutions of the last century, destroyed the natural cycle.
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