Iranian Scientists Find Simple Method to Produce Antibacterial, Pollutant-Adsorbing Fibers

Iranian researchers from Tarbiat Modarres University used nano-oxides and metal-organic frameworks to produce a new type of antibacterial filter that is able to adsorb pollutants such as iodine and Congo red.
The adsorbents can be used in water and wastewater purification industry.

The employment of a simple and green method is the innovation in this method. HMTI-1 compound is deposited on the fibers through layer-by-layer (LBL) method, which is a new technique for the deposition on fibers. The use of microwave is another innovative characteristic of this research.

By carrying out chemical reactions under ultrasound waves, sonochemical method has attracted the attention of scientists in recent years as an effective technique for the synthesis of nanostructured materials due to possessing extraordinary properties such as very high temperature and pressure, which are caused due to the hole-making process and the bursting of the bubbles in the reaction media.

A theory believes that the fast kinetics allow the cores to grow rapidly. Every time a bubble bursts, a number of cores are formed, whose growth is prevented by short bursting of bubbles. Similar to visible light, microwaves are electromagnetic waves with very high frequency but very low wavelength. In fact, this method presents an effective method to synthesize porous inorganic materials. Among the advantages of this method, mention can be made of short crystallization time, limited particles size distribution, ease of morphology control, phase selectivity, and effective evaluation of process parameters.

Results of the research have been published in Crystal Engineering Community, vol. 23, 2012. For more information about the details of the research, study the full article on pages 8137-8142 on the same journal.