Proposal Title: NTE: Engineering of Nanospaces: Hybrid Membranes for Environmentally Important Separations Proposal Number: CTS-0329386 Principal Investigator: David Ford Institution: Texas A&M University
The objective of this proposal is to design, synthesize, and evaluate organic-inorganic hybrid membranes for applications such as removal of trace volatile organic contaminants from air or water streams. The membrane processes employed for these two applications will be vapor permeation and pervaporation. Membrane materials will be based on mesoporous inorganic frameworks with average pore sizes ranging from 1 to 100 nm. The porous spaces of the framework will be modified by chemically attaching dendrimeric molecules to the pore surfaces. This architecture will afford a degree of simultaneous control over both the chemistry and free volume of the membrane, which is difficult to achieve with polymeric or inorganic materials. Design goals will be accomplished by manipulating the dendrimer chemistry, pore geometry, and dendrimer surface density. Organic dendrimers will be designed to adsorb target contaminants without permanently sequestering them. In terms of the broader impacts, the students will benefit from an interdisciplinary experience that connects materials synthesis and separation processes. The membranes produced have the potential to remove toxic contaminants before they enter the environment.
