A team from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) in Seoul and Myongji University has published a new paper describing “Power Generation and Purification Membrane for Water Recycling.”
The team claims it can remove more than 95% of contaminants smaller than 100 millionth of a meter in size, including heavy metal particles and microplastics found in disastrous amounts in rainwater from Antarctica to the Tibetan Plateau. I’m here. drink. It seems to work regardless of the acidity of the water source and works well in the pH range of 1-10.
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The membrane is a two layer sandwich structure, the top layer is a conductive polymer and the bottom layer is a porous filter. When contaminated water is poured onto the top layer, it moves laterally across the membrane, creating a cross-flow of ions that can be collected as an electric current using electrodes at each end of the membrane.
The study claims that the membrane has shown “high energy-generating performance” in experimental tests, but the lab prototype is small and the corresponding power figures are small. Watts, and was reported to have produced up to 15.16 millijoules of energy in an unspecified period of time. In addition, power generation is continuous. With just 10 microliters of water he can generate electricity for over 3 hours.
The team is currently working on follow-up studies to scale up its work to factory-relevant sizes, stating in a press release that “the film can be manufactured using a simple printing process without size limitations, so it can be commercialized.” It is highly likely that it will be,” he argues. This is due to the low manufacturing cost and short processing time. “
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Lead author Jisu Sang believes that this material has potential as a next-generation renewable energy source. “Water quality management systems and emergency power systems also have great potential as new technologies that can solve the problem of water scarcity and generate environmentally friendly energy at the same time,” he says.
A paper was published in a journal advanced materials.
Source: KIST
