Accumulation of nanoparticles in jellyfish mucus: a bio-inspired route to decontamination of nano-waste

The economic and societal impacts of nano-materials are enormous. However, releasing such materials in the environment could be detrimental to human health and the ecological biosphere. Here we demonstrate that gold and quantum dots nanoparticles bio-accumulate into mucus materials coming from natural species such as jellyfish. One strategy that emerges from this finding would be to take advantage of these trapping properties to remove nanoparticles from contaminated water.