Environmental Remediation Through Self-Assembly and Applications to Environmental Sensor Development

杜兰大学“通过自组装的环境修复和在环境传感器开发中的应用”这项研究的目标是开发一种对含有芳香化合物的水蒸气进行环境修复的方法。这一过程涉及将知名技术与新科学相结合。表面活性剂胶束将首先用于浓缩水蒸气中的有机污染物(通常是苯酚和芳香胺)，这是研究得很好的胶束增强超滤技术(MEUF)的一个版本。下一步将是使用辣根过氧化物酶等氧化酶在胶束中聚合这些污染物。由此产生的共轭聚合物本身在涂层技术和电光学应用中非常有用。第三步是将胶束-聚合物组装包覆在介孔二氧化硅(和二氧化钛)的孔结构中。这将导致有用的聚合物-陶瓷纳米复合材料，其中封装材料的功能可以被用来开发耐用的光致发光传感器材料。在开发新型化学-生物传感器时，还将对通过这种途径包裹酶的情况进行评估。学生们将接触到的光谱、显微镜和散射技术的结合，将是一次宝贵的研究经验。杜兰大学运营着一个独特的协调仪器设施，在那里，集中的仪器设备和专业知识可以为学生提供出色的培训。PI完全致力于提供教育机会，并通过路易斯安那州少数群体参与研究联盟(LAMP)等正式计划为实现这些目标而努力，有着良好的记录。这项研究是杜兰大学合作的延续，该合作培养了几名博士毕业生，并为10多名学生提供了本科生研究经验。从技术角度来看，探索性研究阶段将评估将环境污染物转化为有用的高价值产品的可行性。利用介孔二氧化硅中的酶包埋技术对磷酸三酯酶进行包埋。这种含有硅酸酶的薄膜将被用来开发一种传感器，用于检测神经毒剂替代品，如对氧磷。

John, Vijay T.Tulane University"Environmental Remediation through Self-Assembly and Applications to Environmental Sensor Development"The objective of this research is to develop a process for environmental remediation of aqueous streams containing aromatic compounds. The process involves incorporating well-known technologies with new science. Surfactant micelles will be first used to concentrate organic contaminants (typically phenols and aromatic amines) in aqueous streams, in a version of the well-studied micellar enhanced ultrafiltration technology (MEUF). The next step will be to polymerize these contaminants within the micelles using oxidative enzymes such as horseradish peroxidase. The resulting conjugated polymers are themselves very useful in coatings technologies, and in applications to electrooptics. The third step is to encapsulate the micelle-polymer assembly within the pore structure of mesoporous silicas (and titanias). This will result in useful polymer-ceramic nanocomposites where functionality of the encapsulated materials can be utilized to develop robust sensor materials that are photoluminescent. The encapsulation of enzymes through this route will also be evaluated in the development of novel chemo-biosensors.Broader impacts Excellent interdisciplinary training for both undergraduates and graduate students will be provided. The combination of spectroscopy, microscopy and scattering techniques that the students will be exposed to, will be an invaluable research experience. Tulane University operates a unique Coordinated Instrumentation Facility where centralized instrumentation and expertise allow excellent student training. The PI's are fully committed to providing educational opportunities, and have a strong record of working towards such objectives with formalized programs such as the Louisiana Alliance for Minority Participation in Research (LAMP). The research is the continuation of a collaboration at Tulane that has produced several Ph.D. graduates and has provided undergraduate research experience to over 10 students. From a technical prospective, the exploratory research phase will evaluate the feasibility of transforming environmental contaminants to useful, high value products. The process of enzyme entrapment in mesoporous silicas will be used to encapsulate phosphotriesterase. Thin films of such enzyme containing silicas will be used to develop a sensor for the detection of nerve agent surrogates such as paraoxon.