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42 / July 2021 powderbulk.com NANOTECHNOLOGY NANO NEWS Magnetic nanoparticle technology pulls critical elements from water sources Magnetic nanoparticles are being used in an industrial-scale pilot project to capture valuable material from brines. The patent-pending technology was developed at the US Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and has been licensed by Moselle Technologies. To date, most critical minerals used for electronics and energy production are obtained from inter- national sources, which are often in high-conflict regions. With the new technology, a core nanoparticle that consists of magnetite, a form of iron dioxide, is used to recover certain elements. The core particle is used to anchor an adsorbent shell that binds to compounds. The nanoparticles can be introduced into brines from geothermal plants, produced water, mineral mining effluent, or seawa- ter and used to bind and capture free-floating compounds. Currently, the technology is being adapted to capture lithium, a lightweight metal used in battery technology. Two pilot projects have launched in 2021 using the technology. One project is focused on extracting lith- ium from oil and gas brines, which are an untapped domestic lithium resource, according to Pete McGrail, a PNNL laboratory fellow and expert on rare earth metal recov- ery technology. A second project is investigating how the technology could recover the element at lith- ium mines in Nevada and Canada and involves Enerplus Corp., Prairie Lithium Corp., Enertopia Corp., and Dajin Lithium Corp. Continued research is expected to look for ways to use the technol- ogy to recover nickel, cobalt, and Because the field is considered an "add-on" approach, it can be applied to any vapor-phase nanoparticle generation source where the struc- ture is important, such as fillers used in polymer composites for magnetic shielding. This approach allows one to manipulate the assembly process and change the architecture of the resulting parti- cles from high-fractal- dimension objects to lower-dimension, string- like structures. NANO RESEARCH Researchers develop nanotraps to combat COVID-19 Researchers at the University of Chicago have developed a poten- tial treatment for COVID-19 using nanoparticles to destroy the virus. The researchers have developed and validated a nanoparticle-based formulation that's capable of com- pletely inhibiting the severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, according to a recent study published in the journal Matter. The nanoparticles, known as nanotraps, capture the virus by mimicking typical target cells. The SARS-CoV-2 pathogen that causes COVID-19 then binds to the nanotraps and is enveloped from other cells. The pathogen is then targeted for destruction by the immune system. The study describes the devel- opment and validation of the nanotraps, which exhibit high potency in abolishing the SARS- CoV-2 infection in both in vitro (taking place outside a living organ- ism) and in vivo (taking place in a living organism) settings. The primary advantage of the nanotrap is that it not only inhibits the SARS- other rare earth elements. To view a video about the technology, go to https://tinyurl.com/fxevj8kx. Electromagnetic field shapes gas-phase metal molecules To deliver reliable electric and mechanical properties, nanomateri- als must have consistent shapes and surfaces and scalable production techniques, according to University of California, Riverside (UC River- side) researchers. The researchers have developed a system to vaporize metals within a magnetic field to direct the reassembly of metal atoms into predictable shapes, according to a study published in The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters. Nanomaterials have particles measuring from 1 to 100 nanome- ters and are usually created within a liquid matrix, but this can be an expensive process for bulk produc- tion applications. To solve this and other related problems, two UC Riv- erside researchers worked to create nanomaterials from iron, copper, and nickel in gas phase. The researchers placed solid metal within a strong electromagnetic levitation coil to heat the metal beyond its melting point, which vaporized it. The metal drop- lets levitated in the gas within the coil and moved in directions deter- mined by their inherent reactions to magnetic forces. When the droplets bonded, they did so in an orderly manner that allowed the researchers to predict the behavior based on the metal type and where they applied the magnetic fields. The researchers found that iron and nickel nanoparticles formed stringlike aggregates and copper nanoparticles formed globular clus- ters. When deposited on a carbon film, iron and nickel aggregates gave the film a porous surface and carbon aggregates gave the film a more compact, solid surface.