INL makes every day Earth Day

Today, April 22nd, we celebrate the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, aiming to mobilize the world to take the most meaningful actions and make a difference.

More than just remembering this date once per year, the INL – International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory, and especially the INL Environment Cluster works every single day to put Nanotechnology at the Natures’ service to develop efficient, cost-effective and environmentally friendly alternative materials.

At our labs – and now also at our homes – we carry out original applied research on environmental nanotechnologies mainly focused on the synthesis, fabrication, and use of miniaturized sensors for environmental monitoring, and nanomaterials for the capture of water contaminants.

Our researchers are developing solutions for problems like the ones below.

Did you know that:

• Harmful algal and cyanobacterial blooms are a hazard for the environment and human health, and are increasing in severity and spread in the last decades, among other factors, due to climate change?

• Zebra mussels are invasive alien species (IAS) responsible for several economic and environmental problems. Due to their ability to attach to hard surfaces, fast-spreading, high reproductive capacity, and tolerance to environmental conditions, this invasive species can damage infrastructures and disrupt ecosystems?

• Pharmaceuticals and pesticides are among the most abundant contaminants of emerging concern in water and are artificially introduced in the environment by human activities. And that those compounds have been found in nearly all types of water matrices on every continent?

We are working to make these and other problems a thing of the past.

You may always count on INL to build a better future for our common home.