I-Corps: Visible-light-responsive Graphitic Carbon Nitride for Air and Water Purification and Antimicrobial Applications

这个I-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是为消费者提供一个有前途的解决方案，以净化室内空气，净化水，并消除环境病原体，以防止传染病爆发。传统的污染和病原体控制策略面临着运行成本高、能耗大、维护复杂和频繁的巨大挑战。该项目旨在推进一种新的技术和材料，石墨碳氮化物（g-C3 N4），用于污染和病原体控制，降低成本，能源足迹和维护，并促进美国和国外各种应用的商业化。g-C3 N4是一种可见光响应光催化剂，可以由廉价的地球丰富的化学品合成，该材料有望用于广泛的应用，包括室内空气净化器，使用点或进入点水处理反应器，自清洁和抗菌涂料/涂层，利用阳光（一种可再生能源）或室内光。此外，该项目将首次探索g-C3 N4的潜在市场，作为当前商业光催化剂（例如，二氧化钛），加快工业，民用和军事应用的创新材料的实施，并实现污染和病原体控制的新的可持续战略，这将有利于我们的社会发展。该I-Corps项目将推进可见光响应g-C3 N4在不同环境中用于室内空气净化，水净化和抗菌应用的商业应用（例如，保健、食品）。该团队开发了g-C3 N4，在可见光照射下具有增强的光催化性能，并具有优异的稳定性，耐用性和生物相容性。该团队已经证明，在模拟可见光和白色发光二极管的照射下，g-C3 N4可以有效降解水中的有机污染物，并灭活病原体的细菌细胞和生物膜。污染物降解和病原体灭活的反应物种已被确定，并已阐明的机制。该团队还发起了与工业合作伙伴的合作，以制造用于医疗保健和食品应用的g-C3 N4抗菌涂层。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is to provide consumers a promising solution to purify indoor air, decontaminate water, and inactivate environmental pathogens to prevent infectious disease outbreaks. Conventional strategies for pollution and pathogen control face great challenges of a high cost in operation, intensive energy consumption, and complicated and frequent maintenance. The project aims to advance a new technology and material, graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4), for pollution and pathogen control with reduced cost, energy footprint, and maintenance, and promote commercialization for diverse applications in both U.S. and abroad. g-C3N4 is a visible-light-responsive photocatalyst that can be synthesized from inexpensive earth abundant chemicals, and the material holds promise for a broad range of applications, including indoor air purifiers, point-of-use or point-of-entry water treatment reactors, self-cleaning and antimicrobial paintings/coatings by utilizing sunlight (a type of renewable energy) or indoor light. Moreover, the project will be the first to explore the potential market of g-C3N4 as a promising advancement for current commercial photocatalysts (e.g., titanium dioxide), accelerate the implementation of innovative materials for industrial, civil, and military applications, and enable a new sustainable strategy of pollution and pathogen control that will be beneficial for our societal development. This I-Corps project will advance the commercial application of visible-light-responsive g-C3N4 for indoor air purification, water decontamination, and antimicrobial applications in different environments (e.g., healthcare, food). The team has developed g-C3N4 with enhanced photocatalytic performance under visible light irradiation and with excellent stability, robustness, and biocompatibility. The team has demonstrated g-C3N4 effectively degraded organic contaminants in water and inactivated pathogens in the form of planktonic bacterial cells and biofilms, under the irradiation of both simulated visible sunlight and white light emitting diodes. Reactive species for contaminant degradation and pathogen inactivation have been identified, and the mechanisms have been elucidated. The team has also initiated the collaboration with an industrial partner to fabricate antimicrobial coatings with g-C3N4 for both healthcare and food applications.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.