A research group led by associate professor Takashi Miyata of Kansai University in Japan has developed a special gel that absorbs aqueous solutions containing bisphenol A, an endocrine-disrupting chemical (EDC), and then shrinks in volume.
This material is one of a type of "intelligent gels" which expand and contract depending on their surrounding conditions. Researchers around the world have been competing for the development of such new materials. Before this breakthrough by Miyata's group, materials were limited to sensing simple environmental changes such as variations in temperature or acidity.
Research is under way to find commercial applications for products utilizing the new gel's characteristics, including a testing kit that can detect the presence of EDCs by volume changes in the gel, and a product that can remove EDCs.
Posted: 2002/09/19 03:01:41 PM
Japanese version