Self-powered disinfection of Viruses and Bacteria in water using Oxidation-assisted electroporation and Tribo-Electric Nanogenerators (VIBO-TENG)

这项建议将使有经验的申请者能够在巴斯大学从事世界领先的研究，融合材料、环境科学、微生物学、电化学、纳米技术和系统建模的知识。在世界范围内，每三个人中就有一个无法可靠地获得清洁水。消毒是去除水中病原体、确保饮用安全的关键步骤。然而，目前的水消毒方法存在消毒副产物危害大、能耗/化学品消耗大等缺点。此外，当出现严重疫情(如新冠肺炎)时，现有的消毒方法需要满足处理负荷的大幅增加，可能无法提供安全的饮用水。纳米线辅助电穿孔是一种利用由纳米针尖结构增强的局部强电场来破坏微生物外部结构的有效微生物消毒方法，已被应用于水消毒。由于电穿孔消毒的应用非常依赖于可用的电源，申请人将与Ubah主机(Bowen教授)合作开发第一个使用能量收集装置的自力式水消毒系统，以驱动新的氧化辅助电穿孔消毒机制。该项目将把申请者的知识传授给欧盟东道国，特别是他在环境生物技术、电化学和纳米技术方面的经验。申请者将在能源收集、设备设计和系统建模方面获得新的专业知识，以开发集成的自给式消毒设备。这一奖学金将是申请人职业发展的关键一步，扩大了他的研究和学术培训。这将通过有重点的培训计划和通过借调在欧盟各地建立新的长期合作以及与其他领先的能源收集和水科学研究所/行业的联系来促进。

This proposal will enable an experienced applicant to undertake world-leading research at the University of Bath, merging knowledge from materials, environmental science, microbiology, electrochemistry, nanotechnology, and system modeling. Worldwide, one in three people do not have reliable access to clean water. Disinfection is a key step to remove waterborne pathogens and ensure drinking safety. However, current water disinfection methods have drawbacks, such as harmful disinfection byproducts and intensive energy/chemical consumption. In addition, when there is a severe epidemic (e.g., COVID-19), existing disinfection methods need to meet a large increase in treatment load and may fail to provide safe drinking water. Nanowire-assisted electroporation is an effective microbial disinfection method that utilizes a strong local electric field that is enhanced by a nano-scale tip structure to damage the outer structure of microbes and has been developed by the applicant water disinfection. Since the application of electroporation disinfection is strongly reliant on an available power supply, the applicant will work with the UBAH host (Prof. Bowen) to develop the first self-powered water disinfection system using energy harvesting devices to drive a new oxidation-assisted electroporation disinfection mechanism. This project will transfer the applicant's knowledge to the EU host, in particular his experience in environmental biotechnology, electrochemistry, and nanotechnology. The applicant will gain new expertise in energy harvesting, device design, and system modeling for developing integrated self-powered disinfection devices. This fellowship will be a key step in the applicant's career development, by expanding his research and academic training. This will be facilitated by a focused training plan and establishment of new long-term collaborations across the EU by secondments, and links with other leading energy harvesting and water science institutes/industries.