Plasma-treated CNTs key to safer drinking water

The team – led by Associate Professor Hui Ying Yang from Singapore University of Technology and Design – showed in their study that the new method removed contaminants and brine from water. The team included Dr Zhaojun Han and Professor Kostya (Ken) Ostrikov from CSIRO’s Plasma Nanoscience Laboratories.

The study, published in Nature Communications, is said to pave the way for the next generation of portable water purification devices, which could provide relief to the 780 million people around the world without access to clean water.

According to Dr Han, these membranes could be integrated into portable water purification devices the size of a tea pot that would be rechargeable, inexpensive and more effective than many existing filtration methods. Contaminated water would go in one end, and clean drinkable water would come out the other.

‘Small portable purification devices are increasingly recognised as the best way to meet the needs of clean water and sanitation in developing countries and in remote locations, minimising the risk of many serious diseases,’ Han said in a statement.