In a paper published in Environmental Science & Technology, a team led by Dan Giammar, the Walter E. Browne Professor of Environmental Engineering at the McKelvey School of Engineering, looked at if — and if so, how — pH and other factors affected the ability of engineered nanoparticles to clear water of hexavalent chromium, a pollutant which poses a public safety risk when found in drinking water.
Using computer modeling as well as experimental evidence from waters with environmentally relevant compositions, the team found that the nanoparticles collected more hexavalent chromium as the pH decreased and that the presence of certain other chemicals also affected the efficacy of the nanoparticles. Read the full paper online.
