How Graphene oxide nanobots make Heavy Metal Contaminated Water Drinkable and Nano-Mining Possible

“This is a new application of smart nanodevices for environmental applications. The use of self-powered nanomachines that can capture heavy metals from contaminated solutions, transport them to desired places and even release them for 'closing the loop' -- that is a proof-of-concept towards industrial applications”

Co-author Samuel Sánchez of the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Germany in an interview with Phys.org on their graphene oxide-based nanobots

Nanobots are a great and still untapped potential weapon that can be use to fix anything smaller than a bacteria. This one I'm not so comfortable, though.

It has to do with scientists in Germany and Spain developing graphene oxide-based nanobots to target and collect heavy metal particles in wastewater as reported in the article “These graphene-based nanobots suck up lead contamination to clean our oceans”, published April 14, 2016 By Dyllan Furness, DigitalTrends.

 

This idea, which was condensed into a really nice paper published in the journal Nano Letters, was the collaborative effort of three of Europe’s leading researcher on nano-technology:

1.      Max-Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart, Germany

2.      The Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia in Barcelona

3.      Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies in Barcelona

What's more impressive, to mea at least is that these graphene oxide-based nanobots only takes 1an hour to remove 95% of the lead in polluted water, are magnetically guided and can be reused multiple times as noted in the article “Microbots can clean up polluted water”, published April 11, 2016 by Lisa Zyga, Phys.org. 

This means they'll be ready for commercialization in the next five (5) years. So how does this graphene oxide-based nanobots work? And where can we get some?

Graphene oxide-based nanobots - Microscopic robots with a magnetic personality

These graphene oxide-based nanobots are yet another example of nanotechnology, this time human and thus artificial in origin, showing the potential to fix a problem we created.

The other that readily comes to mind is the Kyoto Institute of Technology and Keio University discovery that Ideonella sakaiensis bacterium eats PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastic, potentially paving the way for GM (Genetically modified) plastic eating bacteria as predicted in my blog article entitled “How Kyoto Institute of Technology and Keio University Ideonella sakaiensis bacterium eats polyethylene terephthalate”.

These graphene oxide-based nanobots are made of three layers:

1.      A graphene oxide exterior

2.      A nickel middle to control their movement via a magnetic field

3.      A coating of platinum in the middle

The graphene oxide outer layer function is to absorb lead from the surrounding water. The middle nickel section makes it possible to control these nanobots using magnetic fields. Finally the propulsion system is the coating of platinum in the middle towards the end that reacts with hydrogen peroxide, producing gas bubbles in a propulsion system akin to a rocket as shown in the video below.

Good to note here that hydrogen peroxide has to be added to the water, so removal of lead using these graphene oxide-based nanobots has to be done in a controlled environment. The lead contaminant is removed via an acid bath, making it possible to re-use the graphene oxide-based nanobots once more.

Also, their lead removal powers are dependent on concentration which for nanoscopic graphene oxide-based nanobots might means billions of these nanobots swimming around in the contaminated water that has to be cleaned as noted in the article “Graphene microbots slurp lead from polluted water”, published April 11, 2016 by Michelle Starr, CNET News. 

Otherwise, they’d end up as nanoparticle contaminants that contain platinum and nickel, themselves also heavy metals. Worse, we could end up drinking such water with these graphene oxide-based nanobots with possible toxic results if we come close to magnetic fields.

But if they could be made safe for humans, they also lend themselves to being a potentials medical tool, as they could be used to remove toxic waste buildup in the bloodstream of humans once the propulsion system can be changed.

Suddenly, these graphene oxide-based nanobots look like the next big biotechnology tool breakthrough.

Graphene oxide-based nanobots - Making Drinkable water while performing nano-Mining and assassinating humans

Still the potential to remove heavy metals from water is impressive, as the application of an acid bath extracts the lead ions and makes the graphene oxide-based nanobots reusable.

This potentially means that these nanobots, if they could be placed inside of a closed container with strong magnetic field guided by a special algorithm, could be used as mining and extraction method for heavy metals and Rare Earth Metals from seawater.

Proponents of extracting Rare Earth Metals form the Red Mud waste from Bauxite in Jamaica as explained in my blog article entitled “Rare Earth Metals Extraction from RDA Red Mud's got Titanium and Iron by-products” should like how this sounds.

Suddenly, what I thought was a bad idea look like a great way to not only purify water, but also create a new field of Nano Mining by making it economically possible to extract heavy metals and Rare Earth Metals from liquid suspensions.

Still, if swallowed, this could also be used to kill someone really painfully using a magnet. Thoughts to ponder as nanobots appear to be in our future.