A research group at the Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST), led by Professor Seongkyun Kim from the Department of Physics and Chemistry, has developed a solar-powered artificial plant capable of rapidly removing radioactive cesium from soil. The device mimics plant transpiration to extract contaminated water, capturing cesium in its artificial leaves and releasing purified water back into the ground.
Radioactive cesium poses a long-lasting environmental threat due to its extended half-life, high solubility, and ease of spread through water. Once inside the body, it can accumulate in muscles and bones, increasing cancer risk and causing organ damage. After the 2011 Fukushima disaster, contaminated crops and seafood exceeded safety thresholds, underlining the urgency of soil remediation methods.
Conventional phytoremediation relies on living plants to absorb pollutants, but natural growth is slow, removal rates are low, and contaminated plants become radioactive waste. In contrast, DGIST's artificial plant operates without electricity or additional water, relying solely on sunlight. By concentrating cesium in its leaves, the device avoids the need for large-scale soil excavation and treatment.
The system allows repeated use: once leaves are saturated, they can be replaced or washed with an acidic solution to remove cesium, enabling the adsorbent material to be recycled. This reduces both costs and waste. In trials, the artificial plant lowered cesium concentrations in contaminated soil by more than 95 percent within 20 days, far outpacing natural methods that take months.
Professor Kim emphasized the importance of this breakthrough: "While radioactive cesium contamination causes a much more serious problem in soil than in water, there has been no proper method to purify it so far. This study holds significance as it demonstrates the possibility of purifying contaminated soil based on solar energy by mimicking natural plants and simply installing the device without any other equipment."
