Electro-Functional Membranes: New Materials for Selective Separations and Catalytic Degradations of Aqueous Environmental Contaminants

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A growing number of recalcitrant pollutants of human health and environmental concern are entering Canadian and global water and wastewater systems at alarming rates. While conventional water and wastewater treatment technologies are effective at providing clean, usable water, these methods are insufficient to remove emerging aquatic contaminants. Unlike naturally occurring organic aquatic contaminants, emerging recalcitrant contaminants must not only be removed from aqueous systems, but also degraded. Membrane separation is currently the most effective technology for purifying water, but conventional membranes lack mechanisms for contaminant degradation. Many environmental contaminants are highly susceptible to aggressive oxidative or reductive degradation. This is achievable with electro- or catalytically-enhanced oxidation and reduction. My research seeks to address the increasing challenges of treating contaminated waters by leading advancements in a new frontier in membrane science – active membranes. My previous research produced electrically conductive polymer nanocomposite membranes able to perform efficient and effective aqueous solute separations, while also demonstrating high electrical conductivity. I propose to build on this success and create active membranes able to both separate and catalytically degrade emerging pollutants. My research will focus on three areas of advancement: 1) the ability of these novel electrically conductive membranes to electro-catalytically degrade model organic contaminants in aqueous solutions. The ability of these membranes to reductively degrade model aromatic compounds will also be tested, and their reductive transformation by-products will be tracked. It is hypothesized that an alternating applied electric potential will enhance the flux of water across the membrane by preventing surface fouling and reducing surface concentration polarization. 2) Developing advanced surface modifications using catalytic nanoparticles grafted to the electrically conductive membrane surfaces. These grafted catalytic nanoparticles will be able to oxidize organic contaminants, while the electrically conductive membranes will enhance the degradation efficacy of these catalysts. 3) Challenging these electro-catalytically active membranes with real waters containing contaminants of human health and environmental concern. Real waters contain a variety of organic compounds, including bacteria, and we will study the ability of these catalytically active membranes to resist biofouling while degrading recalcitrant contaminants. The study and development of such membranes will push the boundaries of membrane research and their use will improve the quality of Canadian waters and wastewater, thereby improving the health of Canadians, protecting our environment, and adding innovation to the Canadian water industry.