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

尽管水处理界开发了控制膜上的生物膜、有机污染和矿物结垢的方法，但这些方法通常成本过高。通过利用主要研究者（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，并对现有的最佳实践进行明显改进。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充足的水资源。电化学反应有可能解决基于膜的水处理工艺所面临的许多最持久的挑战。这些挑战可以概括为：1）反渗透和纳滤膜对氧化化学品（例如氯）的敏感性，这显著地使生物膜管理和膜清洁操作复杂化，以及2）超滤和膜蒸馏过程中的膜污染。本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造新一代耐氯、光滑的纳滤和反渗透膜，并将导电聚合物附着在多孔碳纳米管上，形成耐电腐蚀的电活性超滤和膜蒸馏膜材料。该项目基于中心假设，即电聚合聚合物膜可以保持对膜分离过程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，该材料将对纳米过滤和反渗透工艺至关重要的传输性能与耐氯性和光滑表面结合起来。这一目标将通过开发适当的导电基板，确定潜在的单体，测试/表征电聚合材料，并建模所得的聚合物材料。第二个主要目的是形成导电的超滤和膜蒸馏膜材料，其可以在高电势下用作阳极而不遭受电腐蚀，并且可以参与电氧化反应。这一目标将通过电聚合导电聚合物到碳纳米管基板上，表征复合材料的电化学，化学和物理性质，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垢测试所有膜的抗污垢性能。电聚合耐氯纳滤和反渗透材料以及耐电腐蚀导电膜代表了基于膜的水处理工艺的进步。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。该项目将发展对新型反渗透材料制造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理解。该研究计划直接解决了NSF环境工程计划对提高高质量供水可用性的重视。教育计划的重点是为残疾退伍军人提供实习机会，以吸引/维持他们在STEM领域的工作。此外，PI在一个为西班牙裔服务的机构工作，并与一所为西班牙裔服务的社区学院合作。

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.