Nanotechnology in action: Producing Clean Water in an Emergency

Disasters such as floods, tsunamis, and earthquakes often result in the spread of diseases like gastroenteritis, giardiasis and even cholera because of an immediate shortage of clean drinking water. Now, chemistry researchers at McGill University have taken a key step towards making a cheap, portable, paper-based filter coated with silver nanoparticles to be used in these emergency settings.

"Silver has been used to clean water for a very long time. The Greeks and Romans kept their water in silver jugs," says Prof. Derek Gray, from McGill's Department of Chemistry. But though silver is used to get rid of bacteria in a variety of settings, from bandages to antibacterial socks, no one has used it systematically to clean water before. "It's because it seems too simple," affirms Gray.