Inspired by nature: biophysicist develops innovative microplastic filters

"Nature often provides the solution to problems that concern it" - without the example of the giant manta rays, research might not have come up with this idea at all

23-Oct-2024 - It's everywhere these days: Microplastics. In particular, it is transported through the air and water to the remotest corners of the earth. One of the big questions is: how can we prevent microplastics from entering our waters and thus the environment? One person who is very close to an answer is ...

Filtering with mussel power

Nanomembrane allows efficient sieving of ions from liquids

27-Sep-2024 - Filters play an important role in many areas of life - from coffee filters to the purification of liquids. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research have now produced a filter made of a novel, mussel-like material. The filter, which is only around 20 millionths of a millimeter ...

How green cities could remove CO2 from the atmosphere

One gigatonne per year by mid-century: An study determines the potentials, various co-benefits and possible barriers to implementation

06-May-2024 - More than a thousand cities around the world now have “net zero” pledges: they want to emit only as much CO2 into the atmosphere as they can simultaneously recapture. An elaborate meta-study has now summarised the state of knowledge on which methods might be useful and what they could achieve. ...

Nanofibers rid water of hazardous dyes

Waste to purify water - it sounds paradoxical, but that is exactly what has now been achieved

25-Apr-2024 - Dyes, such as those used in the textile industry, are a major environmental problem. At TU Wien, efficient filters have now been developed – based on cellulose waste. Using waste to purify water may sound counterintuitive. But at TU Wien, this is exactly what has now been achieved: a special ...

Bottled water can contain hundreds of thousands of previously uncounted tiny plastic bits

A new microscopic technique zeroes in on the poorly explored world of nanoplastics, which can pass into blood, cells and your brain

11-Jan-2024 - In recent years, there has been rising concern that tiny particles known as microplastics are showing up basically everywhere on Earth, from polar ice to soil, drinking water and food. Formed when plastics break down into progressively smaller bits, these particles are being consumed by humans ...

Using clay to combat eternal toxins

TU Freiberg clarifies basis for innovative PFAS filter made of clay

06-Dec-2023 - PFAS filters available for industrial waste are usually made of activated carbon (PFAS = perfluorinated and polyfluorinated alkyl compounds). As this is comparatively expensive, researchers are looking for alternative filter materials for the so-called "eternal toxins", whose hazardous residues ...

Replicating the structure of bird feathers

The new material could be used in batteries or filtration

04-Dec-2023 - Modelled on nature: researchers have developed a new material that replicates the structure responsible for the blue feathers of the North American song bird, among many other birds. It also has other striking advantages. The eastern bluebird is a special bird. The blue of its feathers is unique. ...

Do or dye: Synthetic colors in wastewater pose a threat to food chains worldwide

The ecological and health threats of synthetic dyes entering wastewater systems have been detailed in a new study

01-Nov-2023 - Dyes widely used in the textile, food and pharmaceutical industries pose a pressing threat to plant, animal and human health, as well as natural environments around the world, a new study has found. Billions of tons of dye-containing wastewater enter water systems every year, and a group of ...

Intelligent Textiles as Protection against PAH Toxins

High Market Potential for Intelligent Textiles Expected

28-Sep-2023 - Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAHs) are considered harmful to health, especially as potential carcinogens. For example, the molecular compounds of carbon and hydrogen atoms can arise in house fires when mattresses, curtains, wooden beams, plastic, or other objects made of organic materials ...

You can make carbon dioxide filters with a 3D printer

09-Jun-2023 - In a new study, North Carolina State University researchers demonstrated that it’s possible to make carbon dioxide capture filters using 3D printing. Specifically, they printed a hydrogel material that can hold carbonic anhydrase, an enzyme that speeds a reaction that turns carbon dioxide and ...