Microplastics floating in water, caught by floating drones

Microplastics floating in water, caught by floating drones - Hydrophilic tooth technology develops microplastic recovery technology using floating drones - Expected to be expanded to aquaculture farms, domestic water treatment, etc In recent years, microplastics have garnered significant attention due to their detection in tap and bottled water, as well as in rivers, lakes, and oceans. Conventional filtering technologies for water treatment have difficulty effectively filtering out microplastics of various sizes and shapes and are prone to clogging. Additionally, recovering small particles requires extremely fine filter meshes, which increases pressure and drastically reduces filter efficiency. Furthermore, they are not effective in open spaces such as lakes, rivers, or oceans, where microplastic pollution is increasing. Dr. Seong Jin Kim and Myoung-Woon Moon of the Center for Extreme Materials Research at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) have developed a new level of microplastic removal technology, offering a promising solution to this growing problem. They have developed a floating drone equipped with hydrophilic tooth structures that leverage surface tension to skim microplastics. The core of the team's approach is the hydrophilic ratchet structure. This design forms a water bridge that forms between the teeth due to its affinity for water, which maximizes the surface tension of the water to adhere the microplastics to the teeth. This approach enables the removal of microplastics ranging in size from 1 micrometer (μm) to 4 millimeters, addressing the challenges traditional filtering technologies face with size and shape variability. It also ensures reliable operation without the risk of clogging. The technology has achieved over 80% recovery efficiency for various types of microplastics, including expanded polystyrene, polypropylene, and polyethylene. In particular, the hydrophilic ratchet structure of the floating drone can be used to remove microplastics in real-time in large bodies of water such as oceans, lakes, and rivers. The drone can move autonomously and purify water quality like a household robot vacuum cleaner, showing its versatility beyond the limitations of existing fixed systems "This technology can be applied not only to floating drones, but also to stationary systems such as water treatment filters in aquaculture farms," said Dr. Moon. "It can also be expanded into a home water treatment filter device that individuals can use in their daily lives." ### KIST was established in 1966 as the first government-funded research institute in Korea. KIST now strives to solve national and social challenges and secure growth engines through leading and innovative research. For more information, please visit KIST’s website at https://eng.kist.re.kr/ This research was supported by the Ministry of Science and ICT (Minister Yoo Sang-im) under the KIST Institutional Program and the Korea International Maritime Police Service Project (KIMST-20210584). The results of this research were published in the latest issue of the international journal "Advanced science" (IF 14.3, JCR field 8.2%). [Figure 1] [Figure 2] [Figure 3]

Developing wastewater treatment units that treat right where it's generated

Developing wastewater treatment units that treat right where it's generated - Continuous flow rapidly breaks down and mineralizes organic matter in water, ready for immediate discharge - Unit produces its own hydrogen peroxide in large quantities and uses it as an oxidant right on site Conventional wastewater treatment involves the centralized collection of wastewater from sources through pipes to large-scale treatment plants, where it is treated in bulk. However, this is not feasible in small, decentralized areas such as rural areas. Simple treatment units installed at small non-point sources of pollution mainly focus on disinfection and turbidity improvement, and do not properly decompose the recalcitrant organic matter in wastewater. In addition, even if industrial wastewater is treated in-house, the treatment efficiency is low, and highly toxic wastewater often needs to be re-transported to a final treatment plant. Dr. Sang Hoon Kim, Extreme Materials Research Center, Dr. Jong Min Kim, Materials Architecturing Research Center, and Dr. Sang Soo Han, Computation Science Research Center, all from the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), have developed an electrochemical device that can treat sewage and wastewater from pollution sites to the level of discharge. In particular, it can rapidly and completely decompose recalcitrant materials into inorganic substances and discharge them on its own. While previous research methods mainly focused on the development of electrode materials for the generation of hydrogen peroxide, a powerful electrochemical oxidant, this study introduced a flow cell method to generate a large amount of hydrogen peroxide while circulating wastewater in the device, mixing it well, and oxidizing and decomposing recalcitrant organic matter in situ to rapidly mineralize it. This is a structure that can completely degrade organic matter much more efficiently than conventional treatment tanks. Conventional oxidation treatments for harmful organics in water often require multiple steps before the organics are completely degraded, and the intermediate products are often still toxic. When organic matter in water is completely decomposed and mineralized, it becomes non-toxic and can be discharged, and the indicator of this is called total organic carbon (TOC). Since last year, after 48 years, the Ministry of Environment has added total organic carbon to the wastewater discharge standards to impose stricter wastewater treatment standards. The small-scale electrochemical device developed by the KIST research team is a technology that can effectively treat sewage and wastewater directly on-site, which is difficult to treat centrally, and can effectively reduce the total organic carbon in a short time. In fact, the researchers demonstrated excellent complete decomposition performance, reducing the total organic carbon of 50pm bisphenol A by 93% in 2 hours. "The developed device is composed of a continuous and repetitive flow method, which shows higher complete decomposition efficiency than the existing method, and a patent is pending for the device and processing method. We are also planning to transfer the technology to commercialize it." ### KIST was established in 1966 as the first government-funded research institute in Korea. KIST now strives to solve national and social challenges and secure growth engines through leading and innovative research. For more information, please visit KIST’s website at https://eng.kist.re.kr/ This research was supported by the Ministry of Science and ICT (Minister Yoo Sang-im) under the KIST Institutional Program, Usu Shinjin (RS-2023-00209940), Nanomaterial Technology Development Project (NRF-2022M3H4A7046278), and the Ministry of Environment (Minister Han Hwa-jin) Environmental Technology Development Project (2021002800005). The research was published in the latest issue of the international journal Applied Catalysis B:Environment and Energy (IF: 20.2 JCR, top 0.6%) [Figure 1] [Figure 2] [Figure 3]

Developing highly efficient recovery materials for precious 'rare earth metals' and improving resource circulation...

Developing highly efficient recovery materials for precious 'rare earth metals' and improving resource circulation for digital infrastructure - Recovery of rare earth metals from waste permanent magnets to reduce foreign dependence - Development of fibrous adsorption materials with improved performance, productivity, economy, and applicability, and improved industrial stability Korea imports 95% of its core minerals such as lithium, nickel, and rare earths. Rare earths, in particular, are characterized by chemical, electrical, magnetic, and luminescent properties that can be achieved by adding only a small amount, and their use has recently increased significantly as core materials in the eco-friendly automobile and renewable energy industries. China, a major producer of rare metals, is controlling the supply through its strategy of weaponizing resources, putting great pressure on the domestic industry. Dr. Jae-Woo Choi and his team at the Center for Water Cycle Research at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) recently announced the development of a fiber-based recovery material that can recover rare earth metals such as neodymium (Nd) and dysprosium (Dy) with high efficiency. The new material is expected to contribute to solving rare earth supply and industrial stability issues by recovering and recycling rare earth metals (neodymium-iron-boron (Nd-Fe-B)) that are mainly used in third-generation permanent magnets, which are essential components in the electric vehicle, hybrid vehicle drive motors, wind power, robotics, and aerospace industries. KIST researchers have developed a nanostructured composite fiber material composed of metal-organic structures and polymer acryl fiber composite fibers to efficiently recover rare earth metals. The adsorptive material is based on acrylic fibers, which are already widely used in Korea, and is economical and productive. The researchers expect that the developed material will be of great industrial use as it easily adsorbs rare earths from waste liquids while facilitating their recovery. The developed fiber material showed adsorption capacities of 468.60 mg/g for neodymium and 435.13 mg/g for dysprosium, the highest in the world. This is significantly higher than conventional adsorption materials and can be applied to simple reactors, which can significantly improve the energy efficiency of the recovery process. The team expects the material to be able to effectively recover rare earths not only from waste permanent magnets, but also from a variety of industrial wastewaters containing rare earth metals, such as mine drainage. In particular, its easy surface modification makes it applicable to a wide range of industrial wastewaters, and it is expected to become a technological alternative for securing rare metal resources. "The high-efficiency rare earth metal recovery material developed in this study is a technology that can replace existing granular adsorption materials, showing excellent results in terms of performance, productivity, economy, and applicability, which will revitalize the digital infrastructure waste mineral extraction ecosystem, and has great potential for industrial application through resource recycling," said Dr. Jae-Woo Choi of KIST. "In the future, the technology can be expanded to selectively recover various useful resources, including rare earths, from industrial wastewater, contributing to carbon neutrality and rare earth-related upstream and downstream industries," said Dr. Youngkyun Jung. ### KIST was established in 1966 as the first government-funded research institute in Korea. KIST now strives to solve national and social challenges and secure growth engines through leading and innovative research. For more information, please visit KIST’s website at https://eng.kist.re.kr/ This research was supported by the Ministry of Science and ICT (Minister Yoo Sang-im) under the KIST Major Project, Leading Materials Innovation Project (2020M3H4A3106366) and Sejong Science Fellowship (RS-2023-00209565). The research results were published in the latest issue of the international journal Advanced Fiber Materials. [Figure 1] [Figure 2] [Figure 3]

Developing new polymeric nanomaterials to detect harmful substances in extreme environments

Developing new polymeric nanomaterials to detect harmful substances in extreme environments - KIST-Yale team develops new nanomaterials based on mixed ion-electron conductors - Eco-friendly, durable sensors for high temperature and humidity environments are expected to have a wide range of applications Polymers have gained prominence in applications such as wearable electronics due to their flexibility and lightweight, but their low electrical conductivity has been a major drawback. While various research efforts have been made to improve conductivity, there are still technical limitations, such as the need to use harmful solvents and performance degradation in extreme environments. The Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) announced that it has developed a method for synthesizing polymers based on ion-electron mixed conductors through collaborative research with Dr. Jang Ji-soo of KIST's Center for Electronic Materials Research and Professor Mingjiang Zhong of Yale University in the United States. The research overcomes the limitations of existing polymeric conductors and is attracting attention as an innovative technology that can contribute to the development of next-generation high-performance chemical sensors. To solve this problem, the researchers introduced ionic pendant groups into the polymer structure to synthesize conjugated polymers that can easily dissolve in eco-friendly solvents rather than toxic solvents. In particular, the polymers exhibit high gas sensing performance in eco-friendly processes and can maintain stable performance in high temperature and humidity environments. This technological advance opens up the possibility of applications in wearable devices, portable electronics, and other electronic devices that can operate reliably in extreme environments. At the center of this research is the development of an ionization-based conjugated polymer that is soluble in an environmentally friendly solvent (2-methylanisole). While conventional conductive polymers typically require toxic solvents to dissolve, the new polymer significantly improves electrical conductivity through the binding of ionic species and electronic charge carriers. By introducing anions (TFSI-) and cations (IM+) into the polymer to increase the density and mobility of the charge carriers, the team maximized conductivity and stability. The n-type based conductive polymer developed by the researchers, N-PBTBDTT, showed a very high sensitivity in detecting harmful gases such as nitrogen dioxide (NO2). The sensitivity for NO2 detection was as high as 189%, and it showed high detection ability even at a very low concentration of 2 ppb. This performance exceeds that of conventional sensor technologies, and the polymer was also highly durable in environments with high humidity of 80% and high temperatures of up to 200°C. This enables stable gas detection in a variety of extreme environments, and is expected to be widely applied to wearable devices and industrial sensors. "The sensors developed in this research go beyond simple chemical sensors and can bring about revolutionary changes in various applications," said Dr. Jang Ji-soo of KIST. "In particular, it can be used as a life-saving material for those who work in extreme environments, such as firefighters who need to detect harmful gases at fire scenes and soldiers who are exposed to chemical weapons in wartime," said Prof. Junwoo Lee and Dr. Juncheol Shin, first authors. ### KIST was established in 1966 as the first government-funded research institute in Korea. KIST now strives to solve national and social challenges and secure growth engines through leading and innovative research. For more information, please visit KIST’s website at https://eng.kist.re.kr/ This research was supported by the Ministry of Science and ICT (Minister Yoo Sang-im) as Institutional Program of KIST, and the results were published* in Advanced Functional Materials (IF: 18.5, within the top 5% of the JCR field), an authoritative journal in the field of energy materials. [Figure 1] [Figure 2] [Figure 3]