Issue 40/2014 - Melanin materials effectively remove water pollution

Researchers from the Chun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Dean of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, have recently developed melanin adsorption materials
for electrochemical analysis and enrichment and removal of harmful substances in water.

The enrichment, analysis and removal of harmful substances in water bodies are of great significance
for environmental management and ecological restoration.
The biocompatible material design and the construction of related materials can avoid the release of harmful substances in the process of synthetic materials and the secondary pollution
caused by the subsequent enrichment, analysis and removal process.

Melanin is a biocompatible material widely distributed in humans and animals, and researchers have synthesized melanin nanomaterials
with uniform size and adjustable particle size for the first time in their preliminary research work.
In the follow-up work, they successfully used melanin in the field of electrochemical analysis by using the unique physical and chemical properties of melanin materials, as well as the enrichment and removal of oil leaks in water bodies, and the obtained materials had excellent adsorption properties and good flame retardant effects
.
This melanin-based material can not only adsorb up to 50 times its own weight of oil, but more importantly, it can effectively contain and eliminate the danger
of fire and explosion due to oil leakage.
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