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The best discoveries are sometimes made accidentally, and the most recent example is hydrogels. Youhong Guo, who led a team of scientists and engineers from the University of Texas, Austin, accidentally discovered this technology while studying solar distillation. The team has developed a method that can clean contaminated water with an accuracy of 99.99% within an hour. In a world where clean drinking water is getting scarcer, the creation by the Texas team couldn’t be more relevant.
Scientists have devised a hydrogel tablet that can purify one litre of river water in an hour and make it suitable for drinking. The tablet is a very novel method that outdates the conventional techniques of purifying, i.e., boiling or pasteurizing. The hydrogel tablet can kill all bacteria present in the water by generating hydrogen peroxide coupled with activated carbon. The combination is lethal for bacteria cells as it disrupts their metabolism and neutralizes them.
“The hydrogel is a multifunctional hydrophilic polymer that can bring a revolution and curb water scarcity. In addition, it is highly efficient and can be produced on a mass level,” Guihua Yu, Associate Professor, Cockrell School of Engineering, Texas, said in a press release.
This litre-purifying tablet has additional benefits than what is mentioned above. Along with the ease with which the hydrogel purifies water, it does not require energy and does not produce any harmful byproducts. Current methods of purification require thermal or solar power to carry out the process efficiently. However, hydrogel does not need any secondary source.
It also has the potential to revamp the solar distillation systems that are used widely to harvest clean water. Solar distillation causes the accumulation of microorganisms as byproducts that cause the system to slow down and eventually malfunction. The hydrogel can prevent that accumulation by eradicating the bacteria and aid the system to run longer and efficiently.
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