10 comments

[ 4.8 ms ] story [ 39.9 ms ] thread
> the researchers designed ZIF-8 rods with diameters about 1/15 that of a human hair

Always amazes me how we're able to create things this small/thin.

> In simulated radioactive wastewater, the microrobots removed 96% of the uranium in an hour

That's a very respectable number, I'm curious how they simulated waste water and what the differences would be with real waste water.

> The team collected the uranium-loaded rods with a magnet and stripped off the uranium, allowing the tiny robots to be recycled.

And they're reusable? Bravo!

What about non-Uranium isotopes?
> The team collected the uranium-loaded rods with a magnet and stripped off the uranium, allowing the tiny robots to be recycled.

So it appears as if these MOFs capture the uranium and then can be collected.

From the title I expected the micro robots to actually get rid of the material. We still need a way to process the collected uranium and find a way to extract the MOFs from groundwater in case of leakage.

So what do they then do with the uranium? Storage is still a problem, right?