A new glass has been developed that swells up like a sponge to clean contaminated groundwater.
A company called Absorbent Materials has used nanotechnology to create a nanobot particle made from glass that can absorb pollutants from dirty water.
The glass particles act like sponges by attracting and binding contaminants to themselves and expanding eight times in size during the process. However, unlike a sponge, these nanobots are hydrophobic, meaning they don’t absorb water.
This new swelling glass uses a material called ‘Obsorb,’ which can hold up to 8 times its weight in fuel, oil, and solvents without sucking up any of the water itself.
Once the material is full after soaking up volatile molecules, the pollutants are collected and then rise to the surface when the particles are fully expanded.
The particles are then skimmed from the surface, cleaned and placed back into the water to repeat the process.
Scientists claim this new technology could be used to clean petroleum spills or other hazardous chemicals from our waterways.
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http://www.inventor-strategies.com
http://science.slashdot.org
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