STTR Phase I: An Oleophilic Hydrophobic Magnetic (OHM) Sponge for Environmental Remediation

这个STR第一阶段项目的更广泛影响是开发一个针对水体中漏油和相关污染物的环境补救平台。石油泄漏和相关的重金属/毒素具有重大的经济、社会和环境不利影响。目前最先进的方法是昂贵的，对海洋生物构成危险，和/或产生物理废物。该项目引入了一种可广泛部署的吸油抗水海绵技术。它可以选择性地从油/水混合物中去除和回收石油，并可重复使用。拟议项目中的材料/方法具有成本效益、可伸缩性和生态友好性。拟议项目的智力价值在于推进了一项利用油-水界面上的界面张力的技术。该项目开发了一种基于纳米技术的简单且可伸缩的海绵，可以选择性地从油-水界面隔离石油分子和金属毒素。提议的系统在市面上可以买到的海绵上涂上一种纳米复合材料。活动包括利用涂覆在海绵毛孔上的纳米复合材料优化影响石油和金属毒素之间相互作用的关键因素，以及为补救应用量身定做长度尺度和化学结构。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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 of this STTR Phase I project is to develop an environmental remediation platform for oil spills and related contaminants in water bodies. Oil spills and associated heavy metals/toxins have significant economic, social, and environmental adverse impacts. The current state-of-the-art approaches are expensive, pose dangers to marine life, and/or generate physical waste. This project introduces a widely deployable sponge technology that attracts oil and resists water. It can selectively remove and recover oil from an oil/water mixture and is re-usable. The materials/methods in the proposed project are cost-effective, scalable, and ecologically friendly. The intellectual merit of the proposed project is to advance a technology leveraging the interfacial tension at an oil-water interface. This project develops a nanotechnology-based simple and scalable sponge that can selectively sequester oil molecules and metal toxins from an oil-water interface. The proposed system coats commercially available sponges with a nanocomposite material. Activities include optimization of key factors affecting interactions between oil and metal toxins with nanocomposites coated on sponge pores and tailoring both the length-scale and chemical architecture for remediation 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.