They design a method capable of removing contaminants from water with floating nanoparticles.

Madrid, June 30 (EFE).- A team from the Madrid Institute of Materials Science (ICMM-CSIC) has developed a method for decontaminating water based on the use of nanoparticles that can adsorb contaminants and recover them after the process in a simple manner.

"The presence of contaminants in aqueous media is a problem that today's society and industry must address," said Javier Pérez-Carvajal, a researcher at ICMM-CSIC and one of the creators of this new formula, the CSIC reported in a press release.

Currently, various methods are used to decontaminate water using nanoparticles. In these processes, the removal or recovery of particles is key to preventing their release into the environment. However, their nanometric size makes it difficult for them to settle easily for recovery or for them to be retained by conventional processes.

"The methods used involve recovery or filtration processes, the cost of which increases the smaller the contaminant," explained Pilar Aranda, a researcher at ICMM-CSIC and also the creator of the new method.

The team's solution involves the use of nano and microcrystalline particles of a MOF network (an acronym for a type of material that combines organic molecules with metal atoms) with many pores just a few nanometers (one millionth of a millimeter) in size, which trap organic contaminants from the water.

"These particles interact with each other and form micro-objects that tend to float on the surface of the water, making them easy to remove once they have fulfilled their function," explained Pérez-Carvajal.

Compared to this process, traditional methods employ physical properties to separate nanoparticles from water, such as centrifugation, which uses centrifugal force to accelerate their sedimentation, or ultrafiltration, in which water is pumped through membranes that trap nanoparticles larger than the pores of these sheets, but in these cases an external source of energy is required.

“Traditionally, nanoparticles require a lot of energy to recover from the environment, so although they are very efficient at removing organic contaminants, their removal can be problematic or require the use of processes that are too costly,” Aranda explained.

This new development is sustainable because "it reduces the cost of recovering adsorbent micro- and nanoparticles by not requiring centrifugation systems or other common methods, and it also prevents the formation of sludge," the researcher added.

The CSIC has reported that this technology has already been granted a priority European patent and is available for laboratory demonstration. EFE

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