Engineers Report New Process for 3D Printing Aerogels for Water Treatment

Graphene excels at removing contaminants from water, but it’s not yet a commercially viable use of the wonder material. That could be changing. In a recent study, engineers at the State University of New York at Buffalo report a new process of 3D printing graphene aerogels that they say overcomes two key hurdles for water treatment — scalability and creating a version of the material that’s stable enough for repeated use. “The goal is to safely remove contaminants from water without releasing any problematic chemical residue,” says study co-author Nirupam Aich, assistant professor of environmental engineering at the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. “The aerogels