Net technology promises a way to selectively remove contaminants from water and soil.
The molecules are custom designed to seek out mercury, lead, chromium and other toxic or precious metals. Mercury, released from a number of natural and man-made sources, can cause serious health effects if inhaled or ingested. Each grain of ceramic material in this case, a type of silicate is only five to 15 micrometers in diameter and contains a densely ordered array of cylindrical caverns or pores, giving the material a honeycomb appearance. The chemically tailored monolayers reside within the pores, with the molecules strongly binding at one end to the ceramic material. The free ends of the tethered molecules then are available for binding to a targeted metal species passing through the pore.