New material shows promise for trapping pollutants
Tuesday, September 6, 2011 - 13:30
in Physics & Chemistry
Water softening techniques are very effective for removing minerals such as calcium and magnesium, which occur as positively-charged ions in "hard" water. But many heavy metals and other inorganic pollutants form negatively-charged ions in water, and existing water treatment processes to remove them are inefficient and expensive. Chemists have now developed a new type of material that can soak up negatively-charged pollutants from water.