Sustainable Hydrogel:
Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have developed a sustainable hydrogel to address the issue of microplastic pollution in water.
- Microplastics, posing significant threats to human health and the environment, can enter our bodies through water consumption.
- The three-layer polymer hydrogel, consisting of chitosan, polyvinyl alcohol, and polyaniline, forms an interpenetrating polymer network (IPN) architecture.
- Infused with nanoclusters of copper substitute polyoxometalate (Cu-POM), the hydrogel can bind and degrade microplastics under UV light irradiation.
- The team ensured efficient microplastic removal and degradation by tracking their adsorption and degradation using fluorescent dye.
- The hydrogel exhibited high efficiency, removing about 95% and 93% of two different microplastic types at near-neutral pH levels.
- Hydrogels are three-dimensional networks composed of hydrophobic polymers synthesized by crosslinking water-soluble polymers.
- Hydrogels can retain a large quantity of water within their network without disturbing their original structure.
- This imparts flexibility and swelling properties to the hydrogel structures.
