Researchers from Rice University and Lomonosov Moscow State University discovered that Graphene Oxide can quickly remove radioactive material from contaminated water. They found out that graphene oxide bind quickly to natural and human-made radionuclides and condense them into solids.
This discovery is obviously useful in contaminated site cleanups (such as the Fukushima nuclear plants), but is also useful in hydraulic fracturing (fracking) for oil and gas recovery and rare earth mineral mining.
The fact that graphene oxide has a large toxin absorbion capacity was known, but the very fast kinetics of absorption is surprising. Graphene oxide introduced to simulated wastes coagulated within minutes, quickly clumping the worst toxins.
Source:
Posted: Jan 09,2013 by Ron Mertens