Everyday items including medications and cosmetics leave behind residues that do not fully break down after use. These pollutants often find their way into water systems, where they disrupt ecosystems and cause harm to plants, animals and humans.
Now, scientists at Manchester University have developed a new method to clean up water using metal-organic cages (MOC) that act like traps designed to catch and hold harmful molecules commonly found in water supplies. Their work is detailed in Cell Reports Physical Science.
Jack Wright, a researcher at Manchester University, who completed the research as part of his PhD, said: “Being able to use MOCs in water is a really exciting development. We know how valuable MOCs are for capturing unwanted substances, but until now researchers have not been able to apply them to real-world water systems.
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“Many harmful chemicals are difficult to remove from water, and with water pollution becoming a global crisis, this new MOC technology could provide a valuable tool to help clean up water systems and prevent pollutants from entering our ecosystem, particularly in rivers and lakes near urban or industrial areas where wastewater discharge is most common.”
The cages are made up of metal ions connected by organic molecules, forming a hollow pyramid-like structure. These hollow spaces at the centre of these structures are where the MOCs trap specific molecules.
The new structure incorporates sulfonates to make it compatible with water, allowing it to function in rivers or wastewater. It uses hydrophobic binding, where contaminant molecules preferentially attach to the inside of the cage rather than staying in the water.
Dr Imogen Riddell, PhD supervisor and researcher at Manchester University, said: “One of the real strengths of this method is its flexibility. The approach we have developed could be used to design other water-soluble MOCs with different sizes or properties. This opens the door to many future applications, including cleaning up different kinds of pollutants, development of green catalysts or even development of drug delivery strategies.”
The researchers will now look to further expand the water-soluble cages, to enable the capture of more, different contaminants, and are working towards the development of routes to recycling the cages to support their development as sustainable water purification aids.
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