Sam Evans worked with CMI through Oak Ridge National Laboratory while working toward his doctorate at University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He was named to a cohort of the Innovation Crossroads program, which provides unique support to science-based startups to help advance game-changing technologies from the laboratory to the marketplace. Innovation Crossroads is based 
at ORNL and is sponsored by DOE’s Advanced Manufacturing Office.
Evans has developed a new water filtration process using waste tire-derived mesoporous carbon infiltrated with magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles to bind to contaminants in water and then be easily filtered out by magnets. By having the nanoparticles occupy the carbon’s porous framework, they do not degrade from interaction with the surrounding air. Iron oxide nanoparticles give the material properties improved stability, increased magnetic response and enhanced adsorption. The combination of the carbon support and magnetic iron nanoparticles allows for a higher adsorption capacity of a wider range of toxic contaminants.
