Scientists at IIT-Bombay have developed AroTrack, a low-cost, portable device to detect harmful pollutants like phenol and benzene in water. The device addresses the challenges of industrial water pollution and the inadequacy of current detection methods, which are expensive and can be handled only by skilled technicians. Leveraging proteins from the bacteria found in polluted environments, AroTrack identifies aromatic xenobiotics through a chemical reaction that changes the solution’s colour.
The core biosensing module, MopR, was engineered to detect specific pollutants with high accuracy, even in complex environments. This innovative technology, priced $50, is compact, user-friendly, and operates efficiently even in rural and remote areas. Testing showed it reliably detects pollutants at low concentrations, even in challenging conditions, making it ideal for regions with limited access to water quality testing facilities. The next step is to equip the device to detect a wider range of pollutants and enhance its market readiness.
Prepping nanozymes for biomedical applications
Researchers are expanding the horizons of artificial enzymes known as ‘nanozymes’ for use as catalysts in transforming biomaterials for medicinal and biomedical applications. Several complex natural enzymes can act on proteins to generate functional proteins. However, the interplay of nanozymes with proteins has rarely been explored.
Scientists are now probing the unexplored roles of nanozymes in biological environments and their interplay beyond small molecule substrates due to their potential use in biotechnological and therapeutic interventions. They are also trying to develop next-generation artificial enzymes to overcome the limitations of selectivity, specificity and efficiency of existing ones.
Dr Amit Vernekar and his PhD students Adarsh Fatrekar and Rasmi Morajkar have probed the crucial role played by manganese-based oxidase nanozyme in stitching collagen, a vital structural protein in various biological tissues, through a covalent process known as ‘crosslinking’ to produce biomaterials.
Eco-friendly alloy coating
Scientists from the International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials (ARCI), led by Dr Nitin P Wasekar, have developed an ecofriendly electro-deposition process for nicket-tungsten alloy coatings with multilayered architecture to reduce stress due to friction. Heavy energy loss and failure of moving machine parts, such as gears in automobiles, is attributed to higher friction and wear-and-tear. Numerous efforts have been made to tackle this issue through surface coatings/oxide layers to avert direct contact between moving parts.
Among the sliding wear contacts, heat generated at the contact surfaces allows the formation of oxide layers. With subsequent wear of materials, the oxide layer is removed either partially or fully and again formed as a cyclic process. Effective dissipation of frictional heat from the mating surface also determines the service life. A thinner and well-adherent oxide layer with effective heat dissipation is recommended. Researchers are working towards alternate layers of high and low thermal diffusivity to enhance the service life of engineering components.