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Microrockets fueled by water neutralize chemical and biological warfare agents

Date:
October 29, 2014
Source:
American Chemical Society
Summary:
With fears growing over chemical and biological weapons falling into the wrong hands, scientists are developing microrockets to fight back against these dangerous agents, should the need arise. They have developed new spherical micromotors that rapidly neutralize chemical and biological agents and use water as fuel.
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With fears growing over chemical and biological weapons falling into the wrong hands, scientists are developing microrockets to fight back against these dangerous agents, should the need arise. In the journal ACS Nano, they describe new spherical micromotors that rapidly neutralize chemical and biological agents and use water as fuel.

Joseph Wang and colleagues point out that titanium dioxide is one of the most promising materials available for degrading chemical and biological warfare agents. It doesn't require harsh chemicals or result in toxic by-products. Current approaches using titanium dioxide, however, require that it be mixed in whatever solution that needs to be decontaminated. But there's no way to actively mix titanium dioxide in waterways if chemical and biological agents are released into the environment. So scientists have been working on ways to propel titanium dioxide around to accelerate the decontamination process without the need for active stirring. But approaches so far have required fuel and other compounds that hinder neutralization. Wang's team wanted to fix this problem.

To give titanium dioxide a source of thrust, the researchers coated it over a magnesium sphere core. When put in a watery environment, a single hole in the shell allows water to enter and react with the magnesium core. This produces hydrogen gas, which bubbles out and propels the titanium dioxide through the surrounding liquid. This enables it to more efficiently and rapidly contact and degrade harmful agents. When tested, the micromotors successfully neutralized nerve agents and anthrax-like bacteria in considerably less time compared to titanium dioxide microparticles that aren't propelled.

The authors acknowledge funding from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and the University of California, San Diego.


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Materials provided by American Chemical Society. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Journal Reference:

  1. Jinxing Li, Virendra V. Singh, Sirilak Sattayasamitsathit, Jahir Orozco, Kevin Kaufmann, Renfeng Dong, Wei Gao, Beatriz Jurado-Sanchez, Yuri Fedorak, Joseph Wang. Water-Driven Micromotors for Rapid Photocatalytic Degradation of Biological and Chemical Warfare Agents. ACS Nano, 2014; 141010093045000 DOI: 10.1021/nn505029k

Cite This Page:

American Chemical Society. "Microrockets fueled by water neutralize chemical and biological warfare agents." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 29 October 2014. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/10/141029124512.htm>.
American Chemical Society. (2014, October 29). Microrockets fueled by water neutralize chemical and biological warfare agents. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 18, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/10/141029124512.htm
American Chemical Society. "Microrockets fueled by water neutralize chemical and biological warfare agents." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/10/141029124512.htm (accessed March 18, 2024).

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