A study published in the Chemical Engineering Journal proposes a new approach to environmental remediation of pharmaceutical pollutants in water flows. This approach is based on a phenomenon known as “sparks,” which refers to the sparks that appear on the surface of a metal when it is subjected to plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO).
During PEO, a metal part (in this case, aluminum) is immersed in a liquid to which an electrical voltage is applied. This results in the growth of an oxide coating. During the process, micro-electrical discharges, or sparks, appear. These sparks last for fractions of a second and cover a small area. However, they lead to very high temperatures, which is why they are nicknamed the “second sun.” This treatment is used on aluminum, magnesium, titanium, and other metal parts in the aerospace, automotive, medical, and electronics industries to create an oxide coating that improves the resistance of the material to corrosion and heat.