Korean scientists have come up with a way to generate electricity while purifying water. Reported by the Korea Institute of Science and Technology.
The developed “sandwich-like” plate consists of a porous membrane at the bottom that filters water, and a conductive polymer that generates electricity attached at the top. The membrane is designed for wastewater treatment with water flow in a given direction. Water flowing perpendicular to the surface generates a direct current due to the movement of ions in the horizontal direction. The membrane can retain more than 95% of contaminants smaller than 10 nm. Thus, it removes microplastics and heavy metal particles from wastewater, and electricity can be continuously generated for more than 3 hours using only 10 µl (microliters) of water.
Since the membrane can be made using 3D printing and has no size restrictions, it should have high commercial appeal due to low manufacturing costs. At the moment, scientists are trying to improve the quality of water purification to the level that it can be drunk immediately.
Previously, the James Webb telescope photographed six large galaxies of the early universe.
