Next Generation Speciality Polymers and Compounds Can Make Recycling Easy

A Plastic is Invented to Clean Our Water

Instead of Polluting It!

Ascientist from India, Ameya Krishna B. along with his Dutch colleagues, Dr. S. Linnhoud and Dr. W. M. de Vos have invented a novel plastic material that cleans water using ion-exchange technology. While plastic is continuously in the news for polluting the oceans and endangering marine life; in this case, they have reversed the equation - to clean water, making it pure and drinkable! They showed that the material is stable in extreme conditions, including strong acids and bases making it strong. Their scientific publication shows that the plastic works as a membrane for desalination, and has the potential to be used in fuel cells for renewable energy generation and storage. Moreover, this membrane is recyclable and has self-healing properties. It is versatile, strong and transparent, with drinking water being just one of the many possibilities. Clean and fresh water has always been the most important resource for all living beings, especially humans to survive. But, shortage of clean water has been a cause of growing concern in the last century due to the global crisis of climate change. Hence, to address this issue, scientists around the world have been working on sustainable solutions to benefit humanity. One important line of research in this direction is the development of new technologies for creating potable water. This latest research has the potential to make plastics eco-friendly as well as water-friendly.

The Plastic Material

Common plastics are made with neutral polymeric materials that are usually thermoplastics. Such materials soften when heat is provided and can be moulded as necessary. This new invention is a saloplastic material, which uses salt to soften and be moulded, which offers a lot of advantages including the movement of salt ions through it. The material is dense, which they clearly show in their scientific publications in the reputed Journal of Colloid and Interface Science. Their images show their material to be dense on the nanometer scale. This nanomaterial is free from pores and is hydrophilic making it suitable for desalination applications.

Ion-exchange Technology

Water can be purified in many ways. Membranes are used in the filtration processes which are materials that selectively allow the passage of specific components and block others. They are like a sheet containing many pores. General technologies include porous membranes such as ultrafiltration and microfiltration. These technologies use size differences to detect bigger impurities in water and can filter them off. Smaller ones pass through depending on

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This scientific finding shows that the plastic works as a membrane for desalination, and has the potential to be used in fuel cells for renewable energy generation and storage. Moreover, this membrane is recyclable and has self-healing properties. It is versatile, strong and transparent, with drinking water being just one of the many possibilities.

Ameya Krishna B.

Scientist Membrane Science and Technology MESA+ Institute of Nanotechnology The Netherlands