Scientists, including those of Indian-origin, have developed a graphene-based filter, that can purify liquids nine times faster than current commercial filter and could be key to managing the global water crisis.
According to the World Economic Forum's Global Risks Report, lack of access to safe, clean water is the biggest risk to society over the coming decade, researchers said.
Yet some of these risks could be mitigated by the development of this filter, which is so strong and stable that it can be used for extended periods in the harshest corrosive environments, and with less maintenance than other filters on the market.
The key to making their filter was developing a viscous form of graphene oxide that could be spread very thinly with a blade, said Associate Professor Mainak Majumder from Monash University in Australia, who led the study.
"This technique creates a uniform arrangement in the graphene, and that evenness gives our filter special properties," Majumder said.
This technique allows the filters to be produced much faster and in larger sizes, which is critical for developing commercial applications.
The graphene-based filter could be used to filter chemicals, viruses, or bacteria from a range of liquids.
It could be used to purify water, dairy products or wine, or in the production of pharmaceuticals.
This is the first time that a graphene filter has been able to be produced on an industrial scale - a problem that has plagued the scientific community for years.
Scientists had known for years that graphene filters had impressive qualities, but in the past they had been difficult and expensive to produce.
"It's been a race to see who could develop this technology first, because until now graphene-based filters could only be used on a small scale in the lab," said Abozar Akbari, a PhD candidate at Monash University.
Graphene is a lattice of carbon atoms so thin it's considered to be two-dimensional.
It has been hailed as a "wonder-material" because of its incredible performance characteristics and range of potential applications.
The team's new filter can filter out anything bigger than one nanometre, which is about 100,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair.
"The ability to control the thickness of the filter and attain a sharper cut-off in separation, and the use of only water as the casting solvent, is a commercial breakthrough," said Professor Dibakar Bhattacharyya, from the University of Kentucky in US.
The research was published in the journal Nature Communications.
