Mexican researcher develops nanotechonolgy to clean water

Mexican scientist Aarón Morelos Gómez

, who is a researcher at the University of Shinshu in Japan , is using nano-carbon materials to develop water treatment membranes, which may be useful to desalinate seawater.

He graduated from the Institute of Scientific and Technological Research of San Luis Potosí ( IPICYT ) and recently visited the institution to present the seminar “Graphene Oxide Membranes for Water Treatment".

Before the students, Morelos Gómez explained that he is working on the creation of membranes for water treatment.

"It's a nanotechnology system that uses a chemical compound called graphene, a material that allows you to filter the salt from the water , to separate the sodium chloride molecules, and to obtain clean water for human use ," he explained.

He said that they have managed to filter large quantities of water by removing 80% of salts and inks , as well as avoiding the adhesion of organic materials and passing routine cleaning methods.

Mexican researcher develops nanotechonolgy to clean water

"We are improving its capacity for filtering and scaling , and in the future, if it has potential, we will move on to the commercial stage," said the researcher, who joined the Japanese university in 2011 and where he now is an associate professor.

According to a statement released by the IPICYT, Aarón Morelos Gómez has published 33 articles in high profile journals such as "Nature Nanotechnology", "Nature Communications", "ACS Nano", among others.

The Mexican researcher completed his Ph.D. at the Institute, with Dr. Emilio Muñoz, Mauricio Terrones, and Humberto Terrones as his advisers. He currently works at Shinshu University, within the Global Aqua Innovation Center.

For more information on the project, visit Aarón Morales's blog

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