Carbon Nanotubes Can "Swim"

Posted on December 21, 2006 by Michael E. Heintz

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) have discovered that multi walled carbon nanotubes will remain suspended in water for a month or longer when combined with other organic materials.  The January issue of the journal Environmental Science & Technology , will fully report the findings by Assistant Professor Jaehong Kim, Professor Joseph Hughes, researcher John Fortner, and graduate student Hoon Hyung.  However, the initial conclusion from the experiments is that multi walled carbon nanotubes are easily dispersed throughout the environment due to their extended suspension in river water.  The nanotubes interacted with the organic material found in water from the Suwannee River, and as a result, remained suspended in the water.  As reported by Georgia Tech,  "Carbon nanotubes, which can be single- or multiwalled, are cylindrical carbon structures with novel properties that make them potentially useful in a wide variety of applications including electronics, composites, optics and pharmaceuticals."

This, of course, adds to the body of science regulators are looking to as the try to develop sound policy for governing nanotechnology.  Check back for updates as the full report on the experiment is released.

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Nanotech Helping to Clean Water

Posted on December 4, 2006 by Michael E. Heintz
Given all the news recently about possible environmental regulation of nanotechnology, the potential benefits of these new discoveries sometimes gets lost in the shuffle.  However, Rice University reported on November 16, 2006 that nanotechnology research shows promise in removing arsenic from drinking water.  Recent experiments conducted by the Center for Biological and Environmental Technology at Rice University resulted in arsenic removal from drinking water through the use of nano-sized rust particles.  The experiments are significant in that arsenic removal technology, as it currently exists, is both expensive and complicated because it uses high pressure pumps and needs electricity.  Researchers at Rice discovered that "nanorust," iron oxide particles, could be removed from water in the presence of a weak magnetic field.  In some instances, small, handheld magnets were enough to create the necessary magnetic force.  Researchers previously thought that given the size of the nanorust, only large electromagnets would remove the particles from water.  Iron oxide binds to arsenic extremely well, and such binding does not appear to impact the magnetic properties of the nanorust.  This technology shows promise for areas of the world that do not have reliable electricity or funding, such as Southeast Asia, and who need to remove high levels of naturally occurring arsenic from their water supplies.  This discovery may make it possible to decontaminate drinking water on a household scale without the use of electricity.
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