Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Nanotechnology Could Save The Ozone Layer

Posted by timothy on from the so-it's-not-all-bad-news dept.

Liz writes "Whilst experimenting with nanospheres and perfluorodecalin, a liquid used in the production of synthetic blood, researchers at Germany's University of Ulm have stumbled across a phenomenon that could ultimately help remove ozone-harming chemicals from the atmosphere. See this article for more details."

2 of 21 comments (clear)

  1. Re:The second step? by Rxke · · Score: 4, Informative

    The ozone layer has little to do with global warming, it blocks U.V., not infrared, the greenhouse effect is caused by the exhaust of CO2, that blocks reflected heat from the surface, while letting solar heat pass through (roughly speaking) of course, as you stated, all good eco news can be an alibi for governments to keep spewing CO2, logic being not always the main drive in governmental behaviour (and i am being VERY polite here...)

  2. An unrealistic application by juushin · · Score: 5, Insightful
    While I found Liz Kalaugher's article to be well written, there are serious issues with the science that is being reported AND the unrealistic application of using this technology to clean up CFCs.

    First - the self-assembly of solids at the interface of perfluorodecalin and water is not a new system - this area was pioneered by researchers at Harvard University. Thus the group at Uln is clearly reporting a phenomenon that is clearly not new. Add to this that they haven't even clearly characterized the phenomenon that they are claiming, which makes things more uninteresting.

    Second - since when are CFCs anything like perfluorodecalin? This would be on par with comparing apples and oranges. If one compares the physical characterics of these molecules such as the dipole moment, solvation energy, etc.., it would become clear that they would be chemically unsimiliar and would hence behave differently.

    In all reality this report represents yet another example of nano pie-in-the-sky.

    Thanks to those that have clearly posted that regardless of whether this system could be used to clean CFCs it would be of little use - CFCs have been banned in most developed nations for years.

    Let's see some articles on real nano work by those that are clearly pioneering this area - Charles Lieber, Hongkun Park, or Paul Alivasatos.