Filtering out HIV from blood! Yes, that is what the world-first innovation is promising us for future. Hats off to the scientists of the University of Technology for developing ceramic membranes specially designed for nano-filtration.
These membranes are advanced enough to have the potential for removing viruses from water, air and blood. This nano-mesh development is being led by Associate Professor Huaiyong Zhu, from QUT’s School of Physical and Chemical Sciences.
Dr Zhu claims that preliminary research on this newly designed membrane had proved successful in removing viruses from water.
Dr Zhu said,
With this in mind we have introduced radical changes to the membrane texture because it is the membrane texture which is crucial to the separation efficiency of the material.
It is scientifically known that a mesh structure is the most efficient form of filtration and we are the first group to successfully construct such a structure on a nanometer scale with ceramic fibers.
This modification has increased the rates of flow that pass through the membranes by at least ten times compared with current ceramic membranes, while maintaining the efficiency of capturing over 96 per cent of the unwanted particles.
Image Courtesy: Queensland University of Technology
