Scientists Invent Revolutionary Material To Clean Up Oil Spills

[eridani]

http://www.nationofchange.org/2015/11/30/scientists-invent-revolutionary-material-to-clean-up-oil-spills/

Scientists in Australia have created an amazing new material that could prove vital in a future ecological disaster like the BP oil spill of 2010. Since experts have warned that future oil spills are ‘unavoidable’, this exciting new invention couldn’t have come soon enough.

The material is called a boron nitride nanosheet, and it acts just like a sponge. Scientist Dr Weiwei Lei from Deakins University’s Institute for Frontier Materials (IFM) said that the nanosheet is “made up of flakes which are just several nanometers [one billionth of a meter] in thickness, with tiny holes which can increase its surface area per gram to effectively the size of 5.5 tennis courts.”

The research team, which included scientists from Drexel University, Philadelphia, and Missouri University of Science and Technology, created the super-sponge using boron nitride powder known as ‘white graphite.’ This was originally invented in 2013, but transforming this powder into a sponge-like material was the tricky part. After two years, the team have managed to break the white graphite down into atomically thin sheets that were then used to make a sponge.

“The pores in the nanosheets provide the surface area to absorb oils and organic solvents up to 33 times its own weight,” Dr Lei said.

These nanosheets are perfect in every way: they do not burn, they can withstand flame, and they can be used in flexible and transparent electrical and heat insulation, in addition to many other things. The material is now ready to start trialling.