Intergrated flexible nanotechnology for photonic fabrics

据估计，世界上三分之一的人口无法获得清洁的饮用水，导致每年约500万人死亡的疾病，而估计有6000万儿童由于受污染的饮用水引起的反复疾病而受到发育迟缓的影响。化学处理法和紫外线(UV)法是两种主流的净水方法。前一种方法会留下化学副产品，而后者通常使用笨重的低效汞灯，这种灯对各种微生物的消毒能力很低。使用紫外光发光二极管(LED)是一种新兴的方法，通过提供一种电压和功率要求低、效率更高、使用寿命更长、几乎没有化学副产品的抗菌剂，消除了许多这些问题。与传统的汞灯相比，目前最先进的紫外线LED存在低光输出的问题，这限制了其效率。在这一战略项目中，我们建议开发在滤光材料中嵌入&gt；50 mW光输出280 nm的大功率LED。这种光子织物利用集成的LED纺织品，实现了高效的UV水净化系统，与传统的外部灯系统相比，水中的透光率增加了3倍，功率要求降低了10倍，微生物和污染物的去除几乎达到了100%。此外，我们还建议将二氧化钛纳米颗粒嵌入到光子织物中。这些纳米粒子将通过UV LED激活的光催化过程进一步改善污染物的去除，在浑浊的水条件下提供更好的性能。这一战略项目将对加拿大确保新的创新并在用于环境友好型水处理技术的集成紫外线发射智能纺织品方面建立领导地位至关重要。

An estimated one-third of the world's population does not have access to clean drinking water, resulting in diseases that kill roughly five million people each year, while an estimated 60 million children are affected by stunted growth due to recurring illness originating from contaminated drinking water. Chemical treatment and ultra-violet (UV) radiation are the two mainstream approaches for water purification. The former approach leaves chemical by-products while the latter typically employs bulky low-efficiency mercury (Hg) lamps, which has low disinfecting capacity over a wide range of microorganisms. The use of UV light-emitting diodes (LEDs) is an emerging approach that eliminates many of these issues by providing an antimicrobial agent that has low voltage and power requirements, higher efficiency, longer lifetimes, and little to no chemical by-products. Current state-of-the-art UV LEDs suffer from low-light output that limits its efficacy compared to conventional Hg lamps. In this strategic project, we propose to develop high-power LEDs having > 50mW light output at 280 nm embedded in filter material. This photonic fabric takes advantage of integrated LED textiles, enabling an efficient UV water purification systems with 3× more light penetration in water, 10× reduction in power requirements, and nearly 100% microorganism and contaminant removal compared to conventional external lamp systems. In addition, we propose to integrate Titanium Dioxide nanoparticles that will be embedded into the photonic fabric. These nanoparticles will further improve contaminant removal through a photo catalysis process activated by the UV LEDs, providing enhanced performance in turbid water conditions. This strategic project will be vital for Canada to secure new innovations and establish leadership in integrated UV-emitting smart textiles for environmentally friendly water treatment technologies.