Scientists have developed a method to efficiently clean water contaminated with toxic mercury—one of the major causes of environmental damage and health problems worldwide.
It is particularly harmful for children and can also be transmitted from a mother to a child during pregnancy.
Industries need better methods to reduce the risk of mercury being released in nature," said Wickman.
The electrode is made of the noble metal platinum, and through an electrochemical process it draws the toxic mercury out of the water to form an alloy of the two.
In this way, the water is cleaned of the mercury contamination.
The alloy formed by the two metals is very stable, so there is no risk of the mercury re-entering the water.
This is the first time the technique with electrochemical alloying has been used for decontamination purposes," said Cristian Tunsu, researcher at Chalmers.
One strength of the new cleaning technique is that the electrode has a very high capacity.
Thereby, the electrode can be recycled, and the mercury disposed of in a safe way.
Even though there may be many different types of substance in the water, it just removes the mercury.