University develops textile that absorbs pollutants
14/11/2016
They infused cotton with a beta-cyclodextrin (BCD) polymer that acts as a filtration device. The cotton fabric was present in the polymerisation process, resulting in a unique polymer grafted to the cotton surface.
The cotton fibres where scanned under an electron microscope and founded to be unchanged after the process. When tested for the uptake of pollutants in water and air, the fibres showed greater uptakes than that of untreated cotton fabric or commercial absorbents.
“One of the limitations of some super-absorbents is that you need to be able to put them into a substrate that can be easily manufactured,” said Juan Hinestroza, associate professor of fibre science and director of undergraduate studies in the College of Human Ecology at Cornell University. “Fibres are perfect for that – fibres are everywhere.”
“We’re compatible with existing textile machinery – you wouldn’t have to do a lot of retooling,” he added. “It works on both air and water, and we proved that we can remove the compounds and reuse the fibre over and over again.”
The absorption potential of the technique, for which there is a patent pending, could extend to other materials.
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