Amazing 15 Yr Old Invents Incredible Water Filtration System
‘Magic Sand’ – “Magic Sand: A Novel Graphene Oxide-Based Water Filtration System,” the 15 year-old Ankush built on his research which addresses the problem of a limited clean water supply. This year, his award-winning entry focused on the second stage of filtration, making and using graphene oxide and coating it on sand. Ankush used chitin, which is present in animal shells, to bond the graphene oxide to the sand, which can then effectively remove salt and colorants from water (even ocean water levels of salt), as well as metals from water. As he says, “1 in 3 people in the world do not have access to clean water and over 200 children die due to water-cleanliness related issues every hour. These are staggering statistics and we need innovation and new materials to solve this problem.”