Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2022 - 42

Sustainable Technology
3D-Printed Graphene Aerogels for Water Treatment
The aerogels safely remove contaminants from water without releasing any problematic
chemical residue.
University at Buffalo, New York, NY
E
ngineers developed a process of 3D
printing graphene aerogels that overcomes
two key hurdles for water treatment:
scalability and creating a version
of the material that's stable enough for
repeated use.
The goal is to safely remove contaminants
from water without releasing any
problematic chemical residue. The aerogels
hold their structure when put in water
treatment systems and they can be applied
in diverse water treatment applications.
An aerogel is a light, highly porous
solid formed by replacement of liquid in
a gel with a gas, so that the resulting solid
is the same size as the original. They
are similar in structural configuration to
Styrofoam: porous and lightweight, yet
strong and resilient. Graphene is a nanomaterial
formed by elemental carbon and
is composed of a single flat sheet of carbon
atoms arranged in a repeating hexagonal
lattice.
To create the right consistency of the
graphene-based
ink, the researchers
added to the graphene two bioinspired
polymers - poly dopamine (a synthetic
material often referred to as PDA, which
is similar to the adhesive secretions of mussels)
and bovine serum albumin (a protein
derived from cows).
This aerogel, used for filtering water, sits atop a single tissue. (Photo: University at Buffalo)
In tests, the reconfigured aerogel removed
certain heavy metals, such as lead
and chromium, that plague drinking water
systems. It also removed organic dyes,
such as cationic methylene blue and anionic
Evans blue, as well as organic solvents
like hexane, heptane, and toluene.
To demonstrate the aerogel's reuse potential,
the researchers ran organic solvents
through it 10 times. Each time, it removed
100 percent of the solvents. The researchers
also reported the aerogel's ability to
capture methylene blue de creased by 2 to
20 percent after the third cycle.
The aerogels can also be scaled up in size
because unlike nanosheets, aerogels can
be printed in larger sizes. This eliminates
a previous problem inherent in large-scale
production and makes the process available
for use in large facilities, such as in
wastewater treatment plants. The aerogels
can be removed from water and reused in
other locations and they don't leave any
kind of residue in the water.
The aerogels can be used not only to
contain graphene particles, but also nanometal
particles that can act as catalysts.
The future goal is to have nanometal
particles embedded in the walls and the
surface of the aerogels to degrade or destroy
biological as well as chemical contaminants.
For
more information, contact Media
This illustration depicts (left) a 3D printer printing the hexagonal-shaped graphene aerogel sheet and
(right) the aerogel (now black) having filtered dirty water. (Photo: Environmental Science: Nano)
42
www.techbriefs.com
Rela tions at ub-news@buffalo.edu; 716-6456969.
Tech
Briefs, March 2022
TB Sustainable Technology 0322_1.indd 42
Cov
ToC
2/15/22 3:00 PM

http://www.techbriefs.com http://info.hotims.com/82319-780

Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2022