Venus flytrap for nuclear waste: New material finds 'needle in a haystack,' shows promise for clean-up
Tuesday, January 26, 2010 - 23:14
in Physics & Chemistry
Like a Venus flytrap, a new material permanently traps only its desired prey, the radioactive ion cesium, and not harmless sodium ions. The material can remove 100 percent of the cesium -- found in nuclear waste but very difficult to clean up -- from a sodium-heavy solution. It is cesium itself that triggers a structural change in the material, causing it to snap shut its pores and trap the cesium ions.