Veolia Water Technologies by GineersNow Engineering Magazine GineersNow Engineering Magazine September 2016 | Page 75

Photo by Regmedia
THESE
AUTONOMOUS
SWIMMING
MICROBOTS
SOAK UP 95%
OF SPILT LEAD
A group of researchers namely
Diana Vilela, Jemish Parmar,
and Samuel Sánchez from
the Max-Planck Institute
for Intelligent Systems and
Yongfei Zeng and Yanli Zhao
of Nanyang Technological
University have found out that
Graphene-Based Microbots
can be used to clean up toxic
heavy metals in contaminated
water. It can remove 95
percent of lead in an hour.
"Heavy metal contamination
in water is a serious risk to
the public health and other
life forms on earth," the team
says.
"We report graphene oxide-
based
microbots
(GOx-
microbots) as active self-
propelled systems for the
capture, transfer, and removal
of [lead] and its subsequent
recovery
for
recycling
purposes.”
"Mobile
GOx-microbots
remove lead 10 times more
efficiently than nonmotile
GOx-microbots,
cleaning
water from 1000 ppb down to
below 50 ppb in 60 min."
These microbots are made
of nanosized multilayers
of graphene oxide, nickel,
and platinum. The graphen
oxide outer coat captures
the suspended lead, while
the inner platinum layer
decomposes
hydrogen
peroxide for self-propulsion,
and the middle nickel
band lets the machines be
magnetically retrieved from
the water.
They can also be reused as
soon as the lead is chemically
separated.
SEPTEMBER 2016
Clean Water Technologies
75