Over the past decade there has been a dramatic increase in the use of human-engineered nanoparticles in manufacturing, electronics, food safety, and consumer products. It is important, therefore, to understand the impact of nanomaterials on the environment. State-of-the-art equipment is needed to carry out the requisite analyses. This award funds the acquisition of a state-of-the-art dynamic light scattering instrument at the University of Wyoming that will be used to characterize nanoparticle size, charge, and stability in liquid media. Accessories including a viscometer and automatic titrating attachment for measuring nanoparticle aggregation, as well as a degassing unit for samples and titrants, are included. The instrument will be used in a wide variety of environmental nanotechnology studies. These include characterizing the interactions between organic acids and phosphate-containing nanoparticles, the synthesis of nanoparticles for photoactive films for solar conversion, studying redox-linked conformational changes of cytochromes and redox enzymes in redox catalysis, wastewater membrane pretreatment and nanoparticle filtering efficiency, and the development of unconventional filtration membranes, among others. Broader impacts of the work include increasing state-of-the-art infrastructure for science at an EPSCoR institution and research support for a minimum of seven faculty members and associated researchers, a number of whom are early career and/or female. The instrument will also be used for student research training and will be integrated into the curriculum of present laboratory courses. The instrument will serve as a critical teaching tool during the University of Wyoming's, College of Engineering, Middle School Girls Camp which is dedicated to showing middle school girls the environmental implications of nanomaterial usage and the tools used to study them. The instrument will also be used to train in-service teachers of students in grades 6-12.
The overall objective of this project was to obtain funds for acquiring a dynamic light scattering (DLS) system for use at the University of Wyoming. The DLS is to be used as both a teaching and research tool by the principal investigator (PI) and other faculty at the University of Wyoming. Funds were used to purchase at Malvern ZetaSizer Nano ZS with an automatic titration accessory. Additionally, a viscometer was purchased, which is used to measure the viscosity of test solutions. This aspect is advantageous for research because the actual viscosity of a solution can vary considerably from book values. This is important because viscosity is used by the DLS to calculate particle size and charge. The DLS has now been used as a teaching tool in three different classes at the University of Wyoming: CE 3400 - Introduction to Environmental Engineerging, CE 4400 - Design of Water Treatment Facilities, and CE 5450 - Advanced Physicochemical Treatment Processes. Students used the DLS to learn about particle aggregation (coagulation) in water as a function of solution chemistry. This is a valuable lesson for students because coagulation is a key process in water and wastewater treatment. The DLS has also allowed the PI and other faculty members at the University of Wyoming to carry out a variety of research experiments related to characterizing the size and surface charge of different nanoparticles in liquid environments. This information was key to understanding such things as nanoparticle transport in porous media, nanoparticle fouling of water treatment membranes, and in developing new nano-adsorbents for removing contaminants from water. To date, findings from these efforts have been presented at five professional conferences (three conference proceeding papers) and in two professional publications.
