Water supplies are under threat in many parts of the globe. Guaranteed water supply to hard-to-reach urban and rural areas for more than 1 billion people This will be a major challenge in the not too distant future.
Titanium dioxide and gold nanoparticles
Recent advances by a group of Chinese researchers in water purification methods using renewable energy sources have opened promising research avenues that could solve the problem of water scarcity. The team created a membrane that could purify water by simulating photosynthesis and transpiration in plant leaves. The film consists of a double layer of nanoparticles, titanium dioxide (TiO2) and gold on the other over a support layer of anodized aluminum oxide.
Layer of TiO during photosynthesis2 Absorbs light, breaks down toxic pollutants in water, The gold layer emulates leaf transpiration, using sunlight to evaporate surface water.The resulting steam condenses into fully purified water.
In the first test of the new system, 60% of model pollutants were removed in just 2 hours of simulated sunlight. Such results may lead to new strategies and developments for harnessing solar energy and using it for water purification.
Simply If experiments mimicked natural processes, would we have found solutions to eradicate water scarcity? In the world?
sauce: Science Daily
