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Source: The post is based on the article “IISER Pune’s new material removes pollutants from water” published in The Hindu on 9th January 2023
What is the News?
Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune has developed a Viologen-unit grafted organic-framework (iVOFm) to clean polluted water.
What is iVOFm?
iVOFm is a unique molecular sponge-like material to clean polluted water by soaking up the contaminants in it.
Method used: iVOFm employs an amalgamation of electrostatics-driven ion exchange combined with nanometer-sized macropores and specific binding sites for the targeted pollutants.
– The inherent cationic nature of iVOFm and macroporosity allows fast diffusion of pollutants.
– Unlike normal sorbent materials, this material is found to be very selective toward toxic pollutants. It can be used several times just like a bath sponge.
Significance of this technique: When tested for a variety of water pollutants, it demonstrated incredibly quick capture of all the pollutants—both organic and inorganic—removal rates of over 93% in just 30 seconds.
What is Ion exchange technique?
Ion Exchange (IX) is a water purification technique in which the water is passed through one or more beds of ion-exchange beads where impurity ions in water are taken up on the beads and replaced by hydrogen and hydroxyl ions, purifying the water.
