MIT has developed a new material for absorbing oil and other organic pollutants. Here the material is used to remove a layer of gasoline (dyed blue) from a vial of water.
Image courtesy / Francesco Stellacci, MIT, and Nature Nanotechnology
This high-tech paper towel is derived from a mesh of nanowires made of potassium manganese oxide and it is capable of absorbing up to 20 times its own weight in oil, without sucking up a drop of water. Therefore this would become an ideal solution for cleaning up tones of oil spills at ocean surface in a faster way, when they are manufactured in mass scale.
Developers of this product are the researchers of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and they are hoping to use this towel in filtering and the purification of water in addition to its environmental applications.
Read more about the high-tech paper towel
The new material appears to be completely impervious to water. “Our material can be left in water a month or two, and when you take it out it’s still dry,” Stellacci said. “But at the same time, if that water contains some hydrophobic contaminants, they will get absorbed.”
Made of potassium manganese oxide, the nanowires are stable at high temperatures. As a result, oil within a loaded membrane can be removed by heating above the boiling point of oil. The oil evaporates, and can be condensed back into a liquid. The membrane-and oil-can be used again.
Two key properties make the system work. First, the nanowires form a spaghetti-like mat with many tiny pores that make for good capillarity, or the ability to absorb liquids. Second, a water-repelling coating keeps water from penetrating into the membrane. Oil, however, isn’t affected, and seeps into the membrane.
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