International. Researchers at the University of Adelaide (Australia) have developed a process to convert plastic bag waste into high-tech nanomaterial.
The innovative technology uses non-biodegradable supermarket plastic bags to make membranes from carbon nanotubes – a highly sophisticated material with a variety of potential applications including filtration, detection, energy storage and a number of biomedical innovations.
Carbon nanotubes are small cylinders of carbon atoms, one nanometer in diameter (1/10,000 the diameter of a human hair). Listed as the strongest and longest-lasting materials yet to be discovered – hundreds of times stronger than steel but six times lighter – their unique mechanical, electrical, thermal and transport properties offer opportunities for research and development.
Researchers have "converted" carbon nanotubes into nanoporous alumina membranes. They use pieces of plastic bags that evaporate in a furnace to produce layers of carbon that line the pores in the membrane to make the small cylinders. The idea was conceived and carried out by PhD student Tariq Altalhi.
The process is also catalytic and solvent-free, which means that plastic waste can be used without generating poisonous compounds.
