CAREER: Beyond Condensation Reactions and Polymer Casting: New Water Treatment Membrane Materials Through Electropolymerization

虽然水处理团体开发了控制生物膜、有机污染和膜上矿物质结垢的方法，但这些方法往往成本高昂。通过利用首席研究员(PI)在电化学、膜分离和胶体科学方面的专业知识，该项目将推进水处理过程的科学和工程，并明显改进现有的最佳实践。该项目体现了PI的目标，即通过应用创新的技术解决方案，在快速变化的全球环境中确保安全和丰富的水资源。电化学反应有可能解决膜基水处理工艺面临的许多最持久的挑战。这些挑战可以概括为：1)反渗透和纳滤膜对氯等氧化性化学物质的敏感性，这极大地增加了生物膜管理和膜清洗操作的复杂性；2)超滤和膜蒸馏过程中的膜污染。这个项目将通过应用电化学方法来解决这两个问题。PI将利用电聚合技术制备新一代耐氯、光滑的纳滤和反渗透膜，并将导电聚合物电聚合到多孔碳纳米管上，形成耐电腐蚀的电活性超滤和膜蒸馏膜材料。该项目的核心假设是，电聚合膜可以保持膜分离过程中至关重要的化学结构和传输特性，同时提供改进的功能。该项目的第一个主要目标是制造、表征和测试一种电聚合材料，这种材料将对纳滤和反渗透过程至关重要的传输特性与耐氯和光滑的表面结合在一起。这一目标将通过开发适当的导电衬底、识别潜在的单体、测试/表征电聚合材料以及对所得到的聚合物材料进行建模来实现。第二个主要目标是形成导电超滤和膜蒸馏材料，这些材料可以在高电位下用作阳极，而不会受到电腐蚀，并且可以参与电氧化反应。这一目标将通过将导电聚合物电聚合到碳纳米管衬底上，表征复合材料的电化学、化学和物理性能，并描述膜材料的传输性能来实现。最后，将使用模型有机和无机污染物测试所有膜的防污染性能。电聚合耐氯纳滤和反渗透材料以及耐电腐蚀的导电膜代表着膜基水处理工艺的进步。它们在废水回用、海水淡化和地下水处理方面具有潜在的应用。该项目将加深对新反渗透材料制备过程中和硝酸盐电化学还原过程中发生的电化学反应的基本了解。该研究计划直接解决了NSF环境工程计划对提高高质量水供应的重视。教育计划的重点是为残疾退伍军人提供实习机会，以便在STEM领域吸引/留住他们。此外，PI在一家服务于拉美裔的机构工作，并与一家服务于拉美裔的社区大学合作。

1553756JassbyAlthough the water treatment community developed methods to control biofilms, organic fouling, and mineral scaling on membranes, these methods are often cost-prohibitive. By leveraging the principal investigator's (PI's) expertise in electrochemistry, membrane separations, and colloidal science, this project will advance the science and engineering of water treatment processes with a clear improvement over existing best practices. This project embodies the PI's goal of ensuring safe and plentiful water resources in a rapidly changing global environment by applying innovative technological solution. Electrochemical reactions have the potential to solve many of the most persistent challenges facing membrane-based water treatment processes. These challenges can be summarized as: 1) the sensitivity of reverse osmosis and nanofiltration membranes to oxidizing chemicals, such as chlorine, which significantly complicates biofilm management and membrane cleaning operations, and, 2) membrane fouling in in ultrafiltration and membrane distillation processes. This project will address both of these problems by applying electrochemical methods. The PI will use electropolymerization to fabricate a new generation of chlorine-resistant, smooth nanofiltration and reverse osmosis membranes, and electro-polymerize conducting polymers onto porous carbon nanotubes to form electroactive ultrafiltration and membrane distillation membrane materials that are resistant to electrocorrosion. The project is based on the central hypotheses that that electropolymerized polymeric films can maintain the chemical structures and transport properties critical to membrane separation processes while providing improved functionalities. The first major objective of the project is to fabricate, characterize, and test an electropolymerized material that combines the transport properties critical to nanofiltration and reverse osmosis processes with chlorine-resistance and a smooth surface. This objective will be pursued by developing appropriate electrically conducting substrates, identifying potential monomers, testing/characterizing the electropolymerized materials, and modeling the resulting polymeric material. The second major objective is to form electrically conducting ultrafiltration and membrane distillation membrane materials that can be used as anodes at high electrical potentials without suffering from electro-corrosion, and that can participate in electrooxidation reactions. This objective will be pursued by electropolymerizing conducting polymers onto carbon nanotubes substrates, characterizing the electrochemical, chemical and physical properties of the composite material, and describing the transport properties of the membrane materials. Finally, all the membranes will be tested for their anti-fouling properties using model organic and inorganic foulants. Electropolymerized chlorine-resistant nanofiltration and reverse osmosis materials and electro-corrosion resistant conducting membranes represent an advancement in membrane-based water treatment processes. They have potential applications in wastewater reuse, seawater desalination, and groundwater treatment. The project will develop fundamental understanding of the electrochemical reactions taking place during the fabrication of the new reverse osmosis material and during the electrochemical reduction of nitrate. The research plan directly addresses the NSF Environmental Engineering Program's emphasis on enhancing the availability of high quality water supplies. The focus of the education plan is to provide disabled military veterans with internships in order to attract/maintain them in STEM fields Additionally, the PI works at a Hispanic-serving institution and collaborates with a community college that serves Hispanics.