Nanobots snap up pollutants with their polymer ‘hands’ to clean up water

Magnetically guided nanorobots have been created that can catch pollutants in water. The reusable bots then released the toxic pollutants – the herbicide atrazine and the heavy metal arsenic – when the water temperature dropped.

‘These are iron-oxide based particles that we functionalised with some special organic materials,’ explains chemist Jayraj Vaghasiya at the University of Chemistry and Technology of Prague, Czech Republic.