IISER Pune’s new material removes pollutants from water

Last Updated09/01/2023

Access to clean and drinkable water has now not only become a local problem but global as well.
Water contamination is one of the world’s leading causes of death and the problem is only getting worse.

Organic pollutants: organic dyes, antibiotics, pesticides, etc.
Inorganic toxic pollutants: iodides, oxo-pollutants like perrhenate
Nature: carcinogenic in fresh water sources and can pose direct threat to humanity and living organisms.

Commonly utilised sorbent materials: trap these pollutants through ion-exchange strategy to purify water but suffer from poor kinetics and specificity.

About: A custom-designed unique molecular sponge-like material
Made by: Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune
Function: can swiftly clean polluted water by soaking up sinister contaminants.
Mechanism: The material employs amalgamation of electrostatics driven ion-exchange combined with nanometer-sized macropores and specific binding sites for the targeted pollutants.
Tunable macropores: along with the strong electrostatic interaction of iVOFm can quickly remove various toxic pollutants from water.

Inherent cationic nature and macroporosity: to allow fast diffusion of pollutants.
Ultrafast removal of sulfadimethoxine antibiotic: from water almost completely.
Fast pollutant trapping capacity: attributed to faster diffusion of pollutants through the ordered interconnected presence of macropores in the material.
Selective toward toxic pollutants: in presence of co-existing ions present in waste water even at low concentration.
Can also be used several times: to clean contaminated water just like a bath sponge can be utilised to tackle multiple water spills.