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	Podcast:		UC Science Today
	Episode:		Looking to a 'miracle material' to improve water filtration
	Category:		Science & Medicine
	Duration:		00:01:02
	Publish Date:		2016-03-17 00:00:00
	Description:		Filters used to purify drinking water or treat wastewater have a lifespan, usually because contaminants clog them over time. Researcher Baoxia Mi of the University of California, Berkeley is taking on this issue by developing a regenerative membrane filter made from the carbon nanomaterial graphene. This would combat the gradual wearing of filters known as membrane fouling. "Membrane fouling means that when we use the membrane to filter water, something that we have in the water, could attach to the membrane and decrease the performance." This lead Mi to compare these systems to the natural filtration processes found in the human body. "For example, for our kidney, or human skin. They don't get fouled. Not because things don't attach to them, but because they can regenerate themselves. With time, the old cells will die and then go away, and then new layers will be there, right?" The hope is to create a filter where new layers of membrane can replace the fouled ones.
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