I'm super unclear on exactly what these nano-particles are made of, or the nature of the charged polymer coating that is required for binding. There was an oil

I'm super unclear on exactly what these nano-particles are made of, or the nature of the charged polymer coating that is required for binding. There was an oil spill on the East River in NYC a month ago, about 5000 gallons of oil[0]. Since each nanoparticle binds to some small amount of point, then would we need some close fraction of 5000 gallons worth of charged-polymer coated nanoparticles to extract it all? If the production of this awesome substance is even close to as straining on the environment (aren't most polymers oil-based?) then I don't see it as a magic bullet for solving all of our water-contamination problems. Still super freaking cool though. [0] http://www.amny.com/news/east-river-oil-spill-thousands-of-gallons-seeped-into-water-coast-guard-estimates-1.13601845 http://www.amny.com/news/east-river-oil-spill-thousands-of-g...