The world is facing increasing water scarcity, and current methods of producing drinking water through desalination technology are often extremely energy-intensive. For the first time, researchers at the University of Tokyo have successfully used fluorine-based nanomaterials to filter salts out of water. Compared to current desalination methods, the fluorine-containing nanochannels are faster, require less pressure and consume less energy, making them a more efficient filter.
webpage Screenshot
At present, there are two main methods of desalination of seawater: thermal method , which uses heat to evaporate seawater to condense seawater into pure water; and reverse osmosis method , which uses pressure to force seawater through a membrane that blocks salt to separate water and impurities . Both methods are very energy intensive. In contrast, the new research tests show that the fluorine nanochannels require very little energy.
Teflon is often used to make nonstick coatings. Moisture-rich ingredients can be observed to slide easily across the surface of the pan during use. This is due to the natural hydrophobicity of fluorine in PTFE as a light element. In addition, Teflon can also be used to improve pipeline flow. It was this phenomenon that caught the researchers’ attention and inspired them to explore how pipes made of fluorine work at the nanoscale.
The research team fabricated the test filter membrane from chemically synthesized nanoscale fluorine rings, which are stacked and embedded in a water-impermeable lipid layer, similar to the organic molecules that make up cell walls. A single hair is about 100,000 nanometers wide, and the researchers produced test samples with nanorings between 1 and 2 nanometers in diameter. To test the membrane’s effectiveness, the researchers measured the concentration of chloride ions in the brine on both sides of the membrane.
Membranes for Cost Savings and Efficiency | Research Team
The results showed that the test samples ran thousands of times faster than typical industrial equipment and 2,400 times faster than carbon nanotube-based desalination experimental equipment. This is because fluorine is an anion and it repels chloride ions, which are also anions. It breaks up so-called clumps of water, forming loosely bound clumps of water molecules that allow fluid to move through the channel more quickly. This fluorine-based water desalination membrane is more efficient, faster, requires less energy to operate, and is very simple to use .
But synthesizing the material itself isn’t easy — and that’s where scientists are going to improve next. While the researchers say the prospects are promising, considering the longevity of the membranes and low operating costs, the overall energy cost will be much lower than current methods. While scaling up, the researchers also hope that, with the help of other experts, they will be able to produce a film with a span of about 1 meter within a few years. At the same time, they are exploring whether similar membranes could be used to reduce carbon dioxide or other pollutants emitted by industry.
references
[1] https://ift.tt/Ui3zsA9
[2] https://ift.tt/BNSi5Ey
Compilation: Oasis
Editor: Jin Xiaoming
Typesetting: Yin Ningliu
Title image source: Pixabay
research team
Corresponding Author Kohei Sato: Ph.D., Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology, Faculty of Engineering, University of Tokyo, Japan.
Homepage of the research group https://ift.tt/RzQc9kt
First author Yoshimitsu Itoh: Ph.D., Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology, Faculty of Engineering, University of Tokyo, Japan.
Paper information
Publish the journal Science
Posted on May 12, 2022
Paper title Virus-host interaction networks as new antiviral drug targets for IAV and SARS-CoV-2
(DOI: https://ift.tt/qPV8a4H)
The Future Light Cone Accelerator is an early-stage technology entrepreneurship accelerator initiated by Nutshell Technology. It provides proposals for scientists in different stages of entrepreneurship, ranging from company registration, intellectual property rights, to financing needs, and team formation. Accelerate the transformation of scientific and technological achievements from the laboratory to the market, and accelerate the iteration of some scientists to become CEOs.
The Nutshell team has 12 years of experience in serving scientists. We always make suggestions from the perspective of scientists and be good friends of science and technology creators. If you are planning to start a technology business, whether you are looking for money, people, resources, or orders, you are welcome to chat with the Future Light Cone team. You can send bp or other project information to [email protected] , and leave your contact information, or add the Wechat of Guoke Hard Technology Enterprise to communicate by private message.
✦
✦
Today is World Ocean Day (World Ocean Day) and National Ocean Publicity Day. I hope this video will let you see enough amazing marine creatures at one time, and I hope that in 365 days of the year, we will work together to protect them and protect the beauty of the ocean.
Click to read the original text to view the original paper
This article is reproduced from: http://www.guokr.com/article/461609/
This site is for inclusion only, and the copyright belongs to the original author.