When they find their way into landfill, electronic waste like phones and computers can wreak havoc on groundwater supplies, contaminating them with toxic heavy metals like lead and mercury. Scientists at Rice University have come up with new kind of filter made from carbon nanotubes and quartz fibers claimed to cleanse water of 99 percent of these types of metals. What’s more, they can be washed out and used over and over.
The new filters use quartz fibers as a substrate and the carbon nanotubes are then grown on top of them and treated with an oxidizing agent. This final step is what gives the material its supreme metal-soaking ability, according to the researchers. Read more
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