Solar-Activated Nanogrid Turns Oil Spills into Biodegradable Compounds.

Photo by Svdmolen.

A new way to tackle oil spills that is easier and more eco-friendly than conventional methods has been developed by a professor from State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Prof. Perena Gauma invented a “nanogrid”, made of copper-tungsten oxide, that when activated by sunlight can break down oil from spills, and leave behind only biodegradable compounds in the contaminated water. The nanogridis in form of a fishing net, this is to provide “maximum exposure to the contaminant to be remedied, while the nanoscale particle sizes enable fast catalystic action”. The net is produced by a self-assembly process in which hot metal clusters diffuse inside polymeric nanofibres and turn into single crystal nanowires, then oxidize to form metal oxide—ceramic—nanoparticles.

#Nanotechnology. #Oil Spill.

Source: Phys.org.