The serious consequences of contaminated drinking water are not unknown to us. All the technology and comforts that we are now deriving pleasure from, do not come without a cost; manufacturing of electronics and batteries produces contaminants such as lead, cadmium, mercury, arsenic and chromium- none of which is good for living organisms. And around the world, water polluted by either pathogens or these toxins ultimately sickens people or cuts them off from safe drinking water.
Although there are a number of water treatments, none of them are infinite or completely safe. For instance, chemical treatment which involves the use of chlorine or other disinfectants, results in the accumulation of these chemicals within the water body, and their byproducts cause harmful effects.
To combat this persisting problem, scientists have developed a school of microbots, tinier than the width of our hair, that can zoom around contaminated water and clean up disease-causing bacteria.
Scientists had conceived the idea of designing a self-propelled micro motors to degrade and capture pollutants in water a long time ago, which seems to have finally found shape in the real world now thanks to an in
ternational team.These tiny robots are shaped like tiny tubes, in three layers- Graphene oxide on the outside absorbs lead particles from the water, nickel in the middle allows external control of the robots using a magnetic field, and the final layer is platinum which gives the robots self-propulsion by adding hydrogen peroxide to the water.
The hydrogen peroxide supplied by the platinum layer decomposes into water and oxygen, thereby propelling the microbot forward.
Another feature of these robots is that they are two-faced(not the evil twin concept), one face is made with magnesium which also lends a hand to propel the system, and the other is made out of alternating layers of iron and gold topped by silver nanoparticles. In the water medium, bacteria stick to the gold and are killed by the silver nanoparticles.
Attributable to the bot metal’s magnetic properties, they can easily be removed with the help of a magnet, without leaving behind any harmful waste in the water.
According to the team of researchers behind the project, a swarm of these bots are capable of reducing the amount of lead in water from 1,000 parts per billion to just 50 parts per billion- a reduction of 95 percent, in just 60 minutes.
Quite fascinating isn’t it?
In addition, these tiny robots as well as the lead ions cleaned off of the microbot can be reused!
The scientists in the future mean to develop microbots that can get rid of a much wider range of industrial pollutants, simultaneously trying to reduce the costs of fabrication.
