SusChEM: Collaborative Research: Development and Application of Piezoelectric Nanoheterostructures to Reduce the Chemical and Energy Demand of Water Treatment

suschem：合作研究：压电纳米异质结构的开发和应用，以减少水处理的化学和能源需求在美国，水和废水处理约占所有能源消耗的5%。因此，为了应对与清洁水生产相关的巨大化学和能源需求，该项目将开发纳米结构压电催化剂，将水处理中大量可利用的废弃机械能（例如泵振动）转化为可用的化学能形式，用于污染物降解。科学目标与教育目标相结合，培养催化、环境化学、纳米技术、材料科学和可持续发展科学领域的三名研究生和几名本科生，帮助更好地为未来的研究领导者做好准备，以解决能源-水关系所带来的复杂、多方面的问题。教育和推广活动以STEM和K-12中代表性不足的群体为中心，促进他们参与乔治华盛顿大学（GW）、加州大学河滨分校（UCR；西班牙裔服务机构）和爱荷华大学（UI）的研究活动。这包括加州大学洛杉矶分校和加州理工学院波莫纳分校（主要是本科生机构和HSI）之间的本科生研究合作伙伴关系，以及PI参与GW（无墙学校）和UI（暑期研究机会学者计划）现有的指导活动。本研究的动机是一个重要的假设，即当前压电催化剂的低效可以通过一维（1D）混合纳米结构的智能设计来克服，该结构优化为：(i)通过直接压电效应产生电位和电流，（ii）通过促进ROS产生的共催化剂有效地分离压电产生的电荷。该研究计划集中在两项主要任务上：(1)合理设计、制造和优化压电催化剂的性能；(2)展示其作为多功能的下一代技术在污染物氧化、消毒、抗菌表面和化学反应性过滤膜方面的应用。提出的研究将主要集中在通过电纺丝制备的新型复合纳米纤维上，该纤维将聚合物压电材料（如PVDF）的弹性和强度与更多活性无机相（如ZnO， BaTiO3）混合在一起，否则这些无机相过于坚硬，化学稳定性较差，无法作为独立的压电催化剂。这项工作具有潜在的变革性，因为开发的催化纳米纤维平台将为高级氧化过程（AOPs）和膜过滤提供更可持续的途径，这些高性能技术目前由于化学需求、成本和碳足迹等问题而在应用中受到限制。

Shuai1437989Cwiertny1437122Nam1437923SusChEM: Collaborative Research: Development and Application of Piezoelectric Nanoheterostructures to Reduce the Chemical and Energy Demand of Water TreatmentWater and wastewater treatment account for approximately 5 % of all of the energy consumption in the US. Therefore, in response to the tremendous chemical and energy demands associated with clean water production, this project will develop nanostructured piezoelectric catalysts for converting the abundance of waste mechanical energy available in water treatment (e.g., pump vibrations) into useable forms of chemical energy for pollutant degradation. The scientific goals are coupled to educational goals are to train three graduate and several undergraduate students at the interface of catalysis, environmental chemistry, nanotechnology, materials science and sustainability science, helping better prepare the research leaders of tomorrow to address the complex, multi-faceted problems posed by the energy-water nexus. The education and outreach initiatives center on underrepresented groups in STEM and K-12, promoting their involvement in research activities at the George Washington University (GW), U.C. Riverside (UCR; a Hispanic serving institution (HSI)), and the University of Iowa (UI). This includes an undergraduate research partnership between UCR and Cal Poly Pomona (a primarily undergraduate institution and HSI), and PI involvement in existing mentoring activities at GW (School Without Walls) and UI (Summer Research Opportunities Scholars Program).The motivation for this study is the overriding hypothesis that inefficiencies in current piezocatalysts can be overcome by the smart design of one-dimensional (1D) hybrid nanostructures optimized for (i) potential and current generation via the direct piezoelectric effect and (ii) efficient piezogenerated charge separation via co-catalysts that promote ROS production. The research plan centers on two main tasks to (i) rationally design, fabricate and optimize the performance of piezoelectric catalysts, and (ii) demonstrate their application as versatile, next-generation technologies for pollutant oxidation, disinfection, antimicrobial surfaces, and chemically reactive filtration membranes. The studies proposed will focus primarily on a novel class of composite nanofibers prepared via electro-spinning that blend the resiliency and strength of polymeric piezoelectric materials (e.g., PVDF) with more reactive inorganic phases (e.g., ZnO, BaTiO3) that are otherwise too rigid and chemically less stable to function as stand-alone piezocatalysts. This work is potentially transformative in that catalytic nanofiber platforms developed will provide a more sustainable route to advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) and membrane filtration, high performance technologies that currently are limited in application due to concerns associated with their chemical demand, cost and carbon footprint.