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

Shuai 1437989 Cwiertny 1437122 Nam 1437923 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水和废水处理约占美国所有能源消耗的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的压电催化剂，用于将水处理中大量的废机械能（例如，泵振动）转化为可用于污染物降解的化学能形式。 科学目标与教育目标相结合，培养三名研究生和几名本科生在催化，环境化学，纳米技术，材料科学和可持续发展科学的界面，帮助更好地准备明天的研究领导者，以解决能源-水关系带来的复杂，多方面的问题。教育和外展计划以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）的研究活动。滨江（UCR;西班牙裔服务机构（HSI））和爱荷华州大学（UI）。这包括UCR和Cal Poly Pomona之间的本科生研究伙伴关系（主要是本科院校和HSI），和PI参与GW现有的指导活动无墙学校（School Without Walls）（夏季研究机会学者计划）。这项研究的动机是压倒一切的假设，即目前压电催化剂的效率低下可以通过一维（1D）的智能设计来克服。混合纳米结构优化（i）通过直接压电效应产生电势和电流，和（ii）通过促进ROS产生的助催化剂进行有效的压电产生的电荷分离。该研究计划集中在两个主要任务：（i）合理设计，制造和优化压电催化剂的性能，以及（ii）展示其作为污染物氧化，消毒，抗菌表面和化学反应过滤膜的通用下一代技术的应用。所提出的研究将主要集中在通过静电纺丝制备的一类新型复合纳米纤维上，该复合纳米纤维混合了聚合物压电材料的弹性和强度（例如，PVDF）与更具反应性的无机相（例如，ZnO、BaTiO 3），否则它们太硬且化学上不太稳定，不能用作独立的压电催化剂。这项工作具有潜在的变革性，因为开发的催化氧化平台将为高级氧化工艺（AOP）和膜过滤提供一条更可持续的途径，这些技术目前由于与化学需求，成本和碳足迹相关的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.