Novel hydrogel removes microplastics from water

https://phys.org/news/2024-04-hydrogel-microplastics.html

"3D 3-layer intertwined polymers: chitosan, polyvinyl alcohol, polyaniline... infused with copper substitute polyoxometalate nanoclusters, catalyzed using UV to degrade, bind as Interpenetrating Polymer Network, strong hydrogel stable under various temperatures... up to 5 cycles microplastic removal without significant efficacy loss, then repurposed into carbon nanomaterials removing heavy metals like hexavalent chromium from polluted water... removes about 95% and 93% of 2 types of microplastics in water at near-neutral pH"