Researchers announced that they have created magnetic and temperature-sensitive nanobots, which are capable of removing contaminants from water. This paves the way for new technologies for cleaning up chemicals.
Researchers from the Czech Republic, South Korea and Taiwan, led by Martin Pumera of the Centre for Advanced Functional Nanorobots at the University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague, who published the paper in the journal Nature Communications, have created nanorobots made of a temperature-sensitive polymer material (PTBC) and iron oxide particles that make the robots magnetic. Thus, they are able to act like tiny «hands» and «pick up» chemical pollution.
The heavy metals and various pesticide drugs in agriculture that end up in the water are a serious problem for the environment and health. Experiments have shown that these nanobots are able to remove both the metal arsenic and the common herbicide atrazine from water.
The scrubbing capacity depends on the water temperature: At 5 degrees Celsius the nanobots disperse, but at 25 degrees they all cluster together and can trap pollutants. After they have done their job, the nanobots can then be removed from the water using magnets. They can then be reused.
