Nanotechnology Now - Press Release: Solar-powered nanofilters pump remove antibiotics to clean contaminated water

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Using the mechanism bacteria use to shrug off powerful antibiotics, scientists have developed solar-powered nanofilters that remove antibiotics from lakes and rivers twice as efficiently as the best existing technology.

Credit:American Chemical Society

Abstract:
Using the same devious mechanism that enables some bacteria to shrug off powerful antibiotics, scientists have developed solar-powered nanofilters that remove antibiotics from the water in lakes and rivers twice as efficiently as the best existing technology. Their report appears in ACS' journal Nano Letters.

Solar-powered nanofilters pump remove antibiotics to clean contaminated water

Washington, DC | Posted on May 1st, 2013

David Wendell and Vikram Kapoor explain that antibiotics from toilets and other sources find their way into lakes and rivers, with traces appearing in 80 percent of waterways. Those antibiotics foster emergence of new antibiotic-resistant bacteria, while harming beneficial microbes in ways that can degrade aquatic environments and food chains. Filters containing activated carbon can remove antibiotics from effluent at municipal sewage treatment plants, before its release into waterways. But activated carbon is far from perfect. So the scientists looked for a better technology.

They describe development and successful laboratory testing of capsule-like "vesicles" containing the very mechanism that enables bacteria to survive doses of antibiotics. This system pumps antibiotics out of bacterial cells before any damage can occur. Wendell and Kapoor turned it around, however, so that the system pumps antibiotics into the vesicles. That way, they can be collected and recycled or shipped for disposal. In addition to the pump, the vesicles contain a propulsion system driven by sunlight. The pump system could be adapted to clean hormones, heavy metals and other undesirable materials from water, the scientists state.

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About American Chemical Society (ACS)
The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With more than 163,000 members, ACS is the world's largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C. and Columbus, Ohio.

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Contacts:
Michael Bernstein

202-872-6042

David Wendell, Ph.D.
School of Energy, Environmental, Biological and Medical Engineering
University of Cincinnati
2901 Woodside Drive
705 Engineering Research Center
Cincinnati, Ohio 45221

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