These vertical wind turbines generate electricity Felix Busse / Alamy
As well as generating renewable energy, wind turbines might soon remove air pollution too.
Zhong Lin Wang at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta and his colleagues have developed a wind-powered device that can simultaneously absorb and break down air pollutants.
It resembles a horizontal wind turbine with five 25-centimetre diameter transparent hemispheres at the end of arms that act as cup-like blades. These also funnel air to a water-filled chamber where nitrogen oxide gases dissolve to produce nitrate and nitrite ions.
These gases, which are found in vehicle…
