Tiny robots could clean pollution from water

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Photo by David Becker on Unsplash
Photo by David Becker on Unsplash

Tiny, magnetic and temperature-sensitive nanorobots could be a solution to removing chemical pollution from water, according to international researchers. The team aimed to develop long-lasting robots able to remove heavy metal ions and pesticides, and came up with little machines that disperse in cool water, but come together to trap pollutants like arsenic and atrazine, a common herbicide, in warmer water. The researchers say the bots can then be removed from the water using magnets, and when cooled they will unload the pollutants and be ready to re-use.

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From: Springer Nature

Materials: Nanorobots remove water pollutants *VIDEO* 

Supplementary video 1. Caption: Shows the (a) toxic pollutants payload onto TM nanorobots and begin to aggregate, (b) TM nanorobots’ intermicellar aggregation at room temperature, and (c) toxic pollutant dispose and dispersion of TM nanorobots at low temperature.

Magnetic and temperature-sensitive nanorobots that can remove pollutants from water are reported in a paper published in Nature Communications. The findings could guide the design of sustainable technologies for the removal of chemical pollutants from water.

Heavy metal ions and pesticides are contaminants that can be found in water, and developing efficient methods for their removal is desirable as they are harmful to the environment. Artificial nano-and micro-motors have been suggested as methods for pollution removal, but current catalytic motors degrade easily, which can restrict their lifespan.

To overcome this challenge, Martin Pumera and colleagues developed thermosensitive magnetic nanorobots. The nanorobots consist of a temperature sensitive polymer (pluronic triblock copolymer (PTBC)) that functions like miniature hands to ‘pick up’ and dispose of pollution, and iron oxide nanoparticles that make the robots magnetic.

The authors found that the nanorobots could remove the heavy metal arsenic and atrazine (a common herbicide) from water. They demonstrate that pollutant uptake/release is regulated by temperature. At 5°C, the nanorobots scattered in water but aggregated when the temperature was raised to 25°C, trapping the pollutants.  The authors could then remove the nanorobots from the water using magnets. Cooling the material caused the nanorobots to separate and unload the pollutants, so the nanorobots could then be reused.

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conference:
Nature Communications
Research:Paper
Organisation/s: University of Chemistry and Technology Prague, Czech Republic
Funder: M. P. was supported by the Advanced Functional Nanorobots project (reg. No. CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/15_003/0000444 financed by the EFRR).
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