Nagoya University Researchers Prove Carbon Fiber is Best at Purifying Water

The Department of Biotechnology at Nagoya University Graduate School of Engineering announced August 30, 2012, that its joint research with Teijin Ltd., a major Japanese polyester manufacturer, determined just how effectively carbon fiber material captures bacteria and purifies water. They studied the adhesion rate of several kinds of bacteria to carbon fiber compared to other synthetic materials, and found that carbon fiber rated the highest.

The surface potential of each bacterium cell and each fiber surface in water was measured to be negative. While it means there is repulsion between them, the potential of carbon fiber is less negative than other fibers. In addition, the intermolecular force between carbon fiber and each bacterium in water is stronger than the interaction between other fibers and bacteria.

Researchers calculated the surface potentials and their interaction to figure out how much energy is required when bacteria adhere to each fiber, and discovered that there is no energy barrier when they adhere to carbon fiber.

This discovery will likely lead to the wider use of carbon fiber, especially in wastewater treatment. Furthermore, this newly identified mechanism makes it possible to design new fibers capable of capturing even more bacteria, offering hope for speeding up the development of inexpensive and more effective water purification systems.

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