Sure, there are some inventions that are just “too much.” Need I even give examples? I think you can already think of many on the top of your head! But, you have to admit, some inventions and new technology that come out are also very useful, like life-changing useful.
A new “smart” sponge developed by geniuses at Northwestern University would be a great example of that. The highly-porous sponge is so advanced that it has the capability of cleaning up oil spills in water up to 30 times its weight. Being able to clean up oil so quickly without threatening marine life and being able to be reused several times, the sponge is thought to be a great and reliable tool to help the environment.
“We all know oil spills have a catastrophic effect on the environment, wildlife and human health and the economy as well,” the leader of the research, Professor Vinayak Dravid said. “Typically we only hear about the large scale disasters, but there are smaller spills all the time that are equally as destructive to the local ecosystem and neighboring community. Our sponge can remediate these spills in a more economic, efficient and eco-friendly manner than any of the current state-of-the-art solutions.”
The unique sponge contains magnetic nanostructures along with a carbon-based substrate. The sponge has the capability of not only attracting oil but also resisting water. Once it captures oil, it remains in the sponge until it is later squeezed out.
“Our sponge works effectively in diverse and extreme aquatic conditions that have different pH and salinity levels,” Dravid said.
With how common oil spills are around the world, it looks like the Northwestern University research team has a great solution.
On top of that, the same team is coming up with another OHM sponge that is capable of sucking up excess nutrients from fertilizer entering waters often due to agricultural-related functions.
“The same OHM sponge, with a slight modification, can absorb almost 95% of phosphorus. And that’s something we have recently done with the Chicago Water Reclamation District. So we are very excited.”
That sounds awesome to me!
Dravid and the rest of the team have even bigger goals following the discovery of their oil-absorbing sponge.
“Our dream and ambition is that after the oil recovery, instead of throwing away that sponge, we actually control burn it and use that soot as an electrode for lithium ion battery, and it actually does much better than the current graphitic anodes.”
Wow, science has really gotten far, and I’m confident it will continue to grow and expand overtime.
Learn more about the new sponge below.
