Stanford Researchers Reportedly Working On Air Cleaning Window Screen To Fight Smog

March 3, 2015 4:34 PM

(Patrik Stollarz/AFP/Getty Images)

STANFORD (CBS SF) A team of researchers at Stanford University have developed material for a window screen that could help people in areaswith high amounts of air pollution breathe easier.

According to the Wall Street Journal, materials science and engineering professor Yi Cui and his team have developed material for the highly-efficient air filter using nanotechnology.

Cui told the Journal that he was inspired to create the filter during visits to China, his homeland. So I come by and have the motivation to think about what we can do to remove those particles. Thats what an engineer likes to do, to solve problems, he said.

Air pollution has long been anissue in China. A recent documentary on the countrys smog called Under The Dome has gone viral, netting more than 180 million views before being censored by the Chinese government.

The professor and his team used a material common in surgical gloves and turned it into a spider-like fiber much thinner than a human hair. The fiber was made into a filter that was able to capture 99 percent of the particles.

Cui said they hope the material can be used for window screens or air filter masks.

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Stanford Researchers Reportedly Working On Air Cleaning Window Screen To Fight Smog