Intergrated flexible nanotechnology for photonic fabrics

据估计，世界上有三分之一的人口无法获得清洁的饮用水，导致每年约500万人死亡的疾病，而估计有6 000万儿童因饮用水污染引起的疾病而受到发育迟缓的影响。化学处理和紫外线（UV）辐射是水净化的两种主流方法。前一种方法会留下化学副产品，而后者通常使用体积庞大的低效率汞（Hg）灯，这种灯对各种微生物的消毒能力很低。使用UV发光二极管（LED）是一种新兴的方法，其通过提供具有低电压和功率要求、更高效率、更长寿命并且几乎没有化学副产物的抗微生物剂来消除许多这些问题。与传统的汞灯相比，目前最先进的UV LED具有低光输出，这限制了其功效。在这个战略项目中，我们建议开发嵌入过滤材料的280 nm光输出> 50 mW的高功率LED。这种光子织物利用了集成LED纺织品的优势，实现了高效的紫外线水净化系统，与传统的外部灯系统相比，水中的光穿透率提高了3倍，功率需求降低了10倍，微生物和污染物去除率接近100%。此外，我们建议将二氧化钛纳米颗粒集成到光子织物中。这些纳米颗粒将通过UV LED激活的光催化过程进一步改善污染物去除，在浑浊的水条件下提供增强的性能。这一战略项目对于加拿大确保新的创新并在用于环境友好型水处理技术的集成紫外线发射智能纺织品方面建立领导地位至关重要。

An estimated one-third of the world's population does not have access to clean drinking water, resulting in diseases that kill roughly five million people each year, while an estimated 60 million children are affected by stunted growth due to recurring illness originating from contaminated drinking water. Chemical treatment and ultra-violet (UV) radiation are the two mainstream approaches for water purification. The former approach leaves chemical by-products while the latter typically employs bulky low-efficiency mercury (Hg) lamps, which has low disinfecting capacity over a wide range of microorganisms. The use of UV light-emitting diodes (LEDs) is an emerging approach that eliminates many of these issues by providing an antimicrobial agent that has low voltage and power requirements, higher efficiency, longer lifetimes, and little to no chemical by-products. Current state-of-the-art UV LEDs suffer from low-light output that limits its efficacy compared to conventional Hg lamps. In this strategic project, we propose to develop high-power LEDs having > 50mW light output at 280 nm embedded in filter material. This photonic fabric takes advantage of integrated LED textiles, enabling an efficient UV water purification systems with 3× more light penetration in water, 10× reduction in power requirements, and nearly 100% microorganism and contaminant removal compared to conventional external lamp systems. In addition, we propose to integrate Titanium Dioxide nanoparticles that will be embedded into the photonic fabric. These nanoparticles will further improve contaminant removal through a photo catalysis process activated by the UV LEDs, providing enhanced performance in turbid water conditions. This strategic project will be vital for Canada to secure new innovations and establish leadership in integrated UV-emitting smart textiles for environmentally friendly water treatment technologies.