‘Super sand’ could provide clean drinking water

Coarse sand coated with graphite could be a cheap solution to filtering drinking water in poor countries. A research team published the findings in the American Chemical Society journal, detailing how they mixed graphite oxide and sand to create what they call “super sand”. Graphite is a carbon derivative, and carbon is often used to filter water as it attracts pollutants with a negative atomic charge. Sand has been used for centuries to filter larger contaminants from water.

The researchers said it is possible to alter the graphite oxide to be selective to specific pollutants. Graphite and sand are both cost-efficient materials, as graphite waste is produced by many mining companies.

Read more at BBC News.

Image credit: U S Navy