PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE/Roorkee
Researchers at IIT Roorkee claimed to have developed an acid-resistant nanocomposites capable of removing uranium and rare earth elements from contamination.
Speaking of the achievement, Prof Nitin Khandelwal said that the most advanced metallic nanomaterials face a trade-off between reactivity and stability in complex matrices like acidic leachates. “By creating an acid-resistant porous silica envelope around the active nanoparticle core, we have developed a material that remains functional even under harsh acidic conditions where conventional materials would lose their efficiency,” he added.
A PhD scholar working on the project, Bhavya Swami said that they had also incorporated biochar derived from waste sewage sludge into the material, providing a productive use for an otherwise discarded waste stream.
