Super Sand

This study from the ACS journal Applied Materials & Interfaces has been making headlines recently for introducing a new way to purify drinking water. Scientists from Rice University have created a new filter material, dubbed “super sand,” by coating regular sand with the nanomaterial graphite oxide. Their tests have shown that this super sand has the potential to be a cheap form of water filtration for developing areas.

The use of sand as a water filter isn’t anything new – it’s actually been done for around 6,000 years. However, by combining this old world technique with cutting edge nanotechnology scientists have made sand filtration at least 5 times more efficient. Their report indicates that the modified sand adsorbed 6 times the amount of liquid mercury and 5 times as much heavy metal and organic dye than regular sand.

In addition to the improved filtration capacity, there are other benefits of super sand that increase its prospects for real-world integration. The materials needed to make super sand, graphite and regular sand, are inexpensive and readily available. Another crucial advantage is that super sand can be created around room temperatures. These factors lead experts to believe that super sand could become a cost-efficient and viable method of water filtration in the future.