Next-generation sulfidated zerovalent iron nanoparticles for groundwater remediation: degradation of emerging and legacy halogenated pollutants and interactions with bacteria

水是全球健康和经济发展的关键资源，而日益严重的污染加剧了水的全球稀缺性。相当数量的含水层和水源受到许多已知对人类有毒的卤化有机化学品的污染，或者直到现在才发现这些化学品与一系列广泛的人类健康问题有关，包括癌症、神经紊乱和内分泌紊乱。从水中消除这些化学物质是具有挑战性的，因为它们具有很高的稳定性和持久性，需要技术进步才能在受污染的水源中消除它们。拟议的研究计划将开发成本效益高且安全的纳米颗粒，由地球上丰富的元素（如铁、硫和碳）制成，用于有效地原位处理水源中的各种有毒卤化有机化学物质。将这些元素组成的原子和分子巧妙地组装成纳米颗粒，可以产生高活性的处理剂，其性能优于传统药剂。目前的纳米颗粒要么在实际环境中没有足够的活性，要么含有有毒元素，这使得它们无法在我们的含水层和水源中直接使用。即将进行的研究是原创和创新的，因为它将(i)开发安全的铁硫碳复合纳米颗粒，这种纳米颗粒被战略性地设计成在污染环境中具有很强的反应性；（ii）调整纳米粒子的设计和组成，使其能对广泛的有毒卤化化学品起反应；（iii）确定纳米颗粒与污染物降解细菌协同作用的策略，从而有效和可持续地清理受污染的水域。本项目将培养1名博士后、4名博士、3名硕士和5名本科生。他们将开发新的纳米材料，使用尖端的工具来产生新的知识，了解它们的组成如何在环境中部署时提供高反应性、高稳定性以及与污染物降解细菌的高协同作用。这项研究将使我们能够满足对有毒卤化化学品日益严格的监管限制，以保护人类健康和环境。研究成果将直接传递给工业界和政府的研究伙伴，并通过出版物和会议传递给更大的社区，确保加拿大的环境、社会和经济效益。

Water is a critical resource for global health and economic development and its global scarcity is exacerbated by increasing pollution. A significant number of aquifers and water sources are contaminated by many halogenated organic chemicals known to be toxic to humans or that are only now being linked to a wide range of human health issues including cancer, neurological disorders and endocrine disruption. Eliminating these chemicals from water is challenging because of their high stability and persistence, and technological advances are needed to enable or improve their elimination in contaminated water sources. The proposed research program will develop cost-effective and safe nanoparticles, made of earth-abundant elements such as iron, sulfur and carbon, for efficient in situ treatment of a variety of toxic halogenated organic chemicals in our water sources. The judicious assembly of atoms and molecules comprised of these elements into nanoparticles can yield highly reactive treatment agents whose performance surpasses those enabled by conventional agents. Current nanoparticles are either not sufficiently reactive in the actual environment or have toxic elements which render their direct use in our aquifers and water sources impossible. The research to be conducted is original and innovative because it will (i) develop safe iron-sulfur-carbon composite nanoparticles that are strategically designed to be very reactive in polluted environments; (ii) tune the design and composition of the nanoparticles to be reactive to a broad spectrum of toxic halogenated chemicals; (iii) identify strategies for the nanoparticles to act synergistically with pollutant-degrading bacteria to enable efficient and sustainable clean-up of polluted waters. The research program will provide high quality training for 1 postdoc, 4 PhD, 3 MSc and 5 undergraduate students. They will develop novel nanomaterials, use cutting-edge tools to generate new knowledge of how their composition can provide high reactivity, high stability when deployed in the environment, and high synergism with pollutant-degrading bacteria. The research will enable us to meet increasingly stringent regulatory limits for toxic halogenated chemicals for protection of human health and the environment. The research results will be directly transferred to research partners from industry and government, and to the larger community through publications and conferences, ensuring environmental, social and economic benefits to Canada.