Stanford Radio

The Future of Everything with Russ Altman: "Xiaolin Zheng: New benefits of combustion revealed" Humankind has prospered greatly from fire, but that doesn’t mean we know all its secrets. Mechanical engineer Xiaolin Zheng really likes to burn things, but she is more like a modern-day Prometheus than a pyromaniac. She uses combustion to create minute nanoparticles of various metal oxides that have many practical and valuable uses in today’s world. For instance, she has created nanoparticles that can turn water into hydrogen peroxide using only energy from the sun. Hydrogen peroxide is a powerful disinfectant that kills microbes and removes other pollutants from water. Zheng imagines creating inexpensive, portable, solar-powered water purifiers to help the two to three billion people in the world who lack access to plentiful potable water. Originally aired on SiriusXM on March 9, 2019. Recorded at Stanford Video.