Tiny Tech 41: Environmental Cleanup with Metal-Organic Framework

Today from the world of Tiny Tech:

Cleaning up environmental pollutants is a big problem that needs "out of the box" answers. Recently, scientists have been investigating a new kind of material called a metal-organic framework or MOF for water purification. MOFs consist of metal ions and organic linkers that assemble like Tinkertoys into sponge-like solids with lots of little boxlike holes. The holes are nano-sized, but still big enough to capture certain pollutants. What they capture depends on the ingredients used to make the MOF.

Some MOFs can capture the naturally occurring but toxic metals that often are found in unprocessed well water. However, MOFs are brittle solids that can easily break down into tiny particles that cause clogging of pipes. To avoid this problem, one research team has taken MOFs and attached them to flexible materials such as carbon cloth or silk nanofibers. In such a form, the MOFs can be made into water purification filters that don’t break down or clog. The filters can remove toxic pollutants such as arsenic, lead, and chromium, which become trapped inside the tiny boxes.

So I think you could say that this “out of the box” invention really involves “into the box” thinking!

Tiny Tech is made possible by the National Science Foundation and WUFT. To learn more about Tiny Tech, go to tinytechradio.org.

Back to Script Archive