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Environmental protection is one of the major challenges facing mankind. Over the years, we have inadvertently damaged our environment by manufacturing and discarding plastics, caused climate change by mining and burning fossil fuels, and polluted our air and waterways through man-made products.
But now is the time to repair the environment and our relationship with the environment. Nanotechnology will play a vital role in ensuring the future sustainability of our planet.
Nanomaterials exhibit unexpected properties compared to their bulk counterparts; their high surface area to volume ratio confers unique physical and chemical properties, including multifunctionality and enhanced reactivity or selectivity.
From saving raw materials, energy and water, to reducing greenhouse gases and hazardous waste, the unique properties of nanotechnology can be used in a variety of products, procedures and applications, and can undoubtedly support environmental and climate protection.
Oil spills can be catastrophic to oceans, rivers, and the wildlife that live in them. Traditional methods of clearing spills are not enough, although they are still in their infancy, nano-based solutions show great promise as an alternative method to solve clean-up operations.
Oil spills have devastating effects on our oceans and rivers, and traditional clean-up methods are considered insufficient. Photo Credit: Korelidou Mila/Shutterstock.com
After the Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010, researchers at the State University of New York (SUNY) Stony Brook developed a nanogrid of photocatalytic copper tungsten oxide nanoparticles. When activated by sunlight, these nanoparticles break down the oil into biodegradable compounds.
"It uses the entire solar spectrum and can work for long periods of time in water," said Pelagia-Irene Gouma, a professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. "Our technology is a unique technology. When you shine light on these grids, They start to work and can be used repeatedly."
Nanotechnology-based solutions can improve the long-term quality, availability, and feasibility of water in a variety of ways:
Nanotechnology can produce a new generation of nanomembranes for separation to achieve greater water purification and desalination, as well as better ways to remove, reduce or neutralize water pollutants. The latter may include zeolites, carbon nanotubes, self-assembled monolayers on mesoporous supports (SAMMS), biopolymers, and single enzyme nanoparticles, to name a few.
New and enhanced sensors that can detect low-concentration chemical and biological pollution can be realized through nanotechnology. Nanomaterials also make it possible to use photoelectrochemical analysis to integrate photoresponse and chemical sensing into biological and chemical monitoring, and eliminate the need for expensive and complex instruments and operations.
This includes not only "traditional" pollutants, but also water-borne infectious diseases. For example, nanotechnology can provide alternatives to chlorine-free biocides in the form of silver and titanium dioxide catalysts for photocatalytic disinfection.
Actual water purification applications that are already in use include the use of iron nanoparticles to remove organic solvents in groundwater. The nanoparticles disperse in water and decompose the solvent, eliminating the need to pump the water out of the ground, making the method more effective and less costly.
Nanotechnology-based solutions can also remove radioactive waste. As a good absorbent, titanate nanofibers can remove radioactive ions such as cesium and iodine in water.
Carbon dioxide (CO2) may be the biggest threat to the environment. The industrial revolution was accompanied by the increasing need to burn fossil fuels, causing large amounts of this greenhouse gas to pollute the atmosphere and promote climate change. Therefore, the earth is warming, the polar ice caps are melting, and many low-lying areas are in danger of disappearing completely.
The use of renewable energy is already reducing the amount of carbon dioxide released into the air. However, if there is no alternative to burning fossil fuels, CO2 needs to be filtered from the exhaust gas for capture and storage.
Image Credit: One Billion Photos/Shutterstock.com
Current methods for separating CO2 from exhaust gas are expensive, require the use of chemicals, and are not competitive in large-scale applications. However, membranes made of nanomaterials can work in the same way, but the cost is only a small part of it, and no additional compounds are required.
German researchers have recently created an ultra-thin nano-scale polymer film that can filter carbon dioxide with unparalleled results. This high permeability is attributed to the carbon dioxide-philic material, which is only tens of nanometers thick. The researchers said that this material can be used to treat large air streams at low pressures, such as capturing carbon dioxide from flue gas from coal-fired power plants.
Volatile organic compounds (VOC) also pose a hazard to air quality, causing smog and high ozone levels. Japanese researchers have discovered a way to remove VOC and sulfur and nitrogen oxides from the air at ambient temperature. They use porous manganese oxide and gold nanoparticles grown in it as a catalyst to decompose and remove harmful compounds.
Nanotechnology provides huge opportunities for environmental technology. There have been many successful cases in sensing and monitoring, selective adsorption and nanomembrane. However, we must carefully balance the needs of the environment with the activity, selectivity, and stability of the nanotechnology of our choice.
Many of the desirable qualities of nanotechnology (such as its high performance) stem from the high reactivity caused by its delicate surface and microstructure. Therefore, we must be careful to avoid damage and degradation of nanotechnology and further harm to the environment.
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Yave, W. etc. (2010) Nano-films manufactured on a square meter scale: ultra-thin films for carbon dioxide capture, nanotechnology [online] https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0957-4484/21/39/395301 visit 17 2020 November.
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Since 2016, Kerry has been a freelance writer, editor, and proofreader, specializing in science and health related subjects. She has a degree in natural sciences from the University of Bath and lives in the UK.
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Now is the time to implement effective measures and use technologies that help the environment...I find the use of nanotechnology very interesting and promising, especially because it itself seems to be ecological and reusable. Gustavo Copelmayer, Director of Development
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