'Nanopaper' Made to Soak Up Oil Spills

The oil is soaked up and stored in the microscopic nooks and crannies between the individual nanowires, known as capillaries.

It's the combination of the nanowires and that coating that creates oil-absorbing nanopaper.

"We tried the polymer coating on different materials," said Kong. "But it doesn't have as much of a dramatic effect as it does on the nanowires."

After an oil spill, workers would lay the paper in the contaminated area. In areas of heavy contamination, the nanopaper would be saturated with oil in about five minutes.

The nanopaper would then be collected and boiled. The oil would be re-captured and the nanopaper re-used.

It's a common maxim that oil and water don't mix, but they do form emulsions, where the oil breaks up into tiny particles mixed in with the water, that are difficult to clean up.

"There is a huge environmental challenge there," said Joerg Lahann, a researcher at the University of Michigan who was not involved in the MIT work.

"They are able to separate oil from water even in an emulsion, which is very hard," said Lahann.

The MIT team has patented their nanopaper and plans to commercialize it. Kong estimates that it will be available in a year and a half and will cost about $4 per kilogram.

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