Cwiertny 1437122 Nam 1437923
SusChEM: Collaborative Research: Development and Application of Piezoelectric Nanoheterostructures to Reduce the Chemical and Energy Demand of Water Treatment
Water and wastewater treatment account for approximately 5 % of all of the energy consumption in the US. Therefore, in response to the tremendous chemical and energy demands associated with clean water production, this project will develop nanostructured piezoelectric catalysts for converting the abundance of waste mechanical energy available in water treatment (e.g., pump vibrations) into useable forms of chemical energy for pollutant degradation. The scientific goals are coupled to educational goals are to train three graduate and several undergraduate students at the interface of catalysis, environmental chemistry, nanotechnology, materials science and sustainability science, helping better prepare the research leaders of tomorrow to address the complex, multi-faceted problems posed by the energy-water nexus. The education and outreach initiatives center on underrepresented groups in STEM and K-12, promoting their involvement in research activities at the George Washington University (GW), U.C. Riverside (UCR; a Hispanic serving institution (HSI)), and the University of Iowa (UI). This includes an undergraduate research partnership between UCR and Cal Poly Pomona (a primarily undergraduate institution and HSI), and PI involvement in existing mentoring activities at GW (School Without Walls) and UI (Summer Research Opportunities Scholars Program).
The motivation for this study is the overriding hypothesis that inefficiencies in current piezocatalysts can be overcome by the smart design of one-dimensional (1D) hybrid nanostructures optimized for (i) potential and current generation via the direct piezoelectric effect and (ii) efficient piezogenerated charge separation via co-catalysts that promote ROS production. The research plan centers on two main tasks to (i) rationally design, fabricate and optimize the performance of piezoelectric catalysts, and (ii) demonstrate their application as versatile, next-generation technologies for pollutant oxidation, disinfection, antimicrobial surfaces, and chemically reactive filtration membranes. The studies proposed will focus primarily on a novel class of composite nanofibers prepared via electro-spinning that blend the resiliency and strength of polymeric piezoelectric materials (e.g., PVDF) with more reactive inorganic phases (e.g., ZnO, BaTiO3) that are otherwise too rigid and chemically less stable to function as stand-alone piezocatalysts. This work is potentially transformative in that catalytic nanofiber platforms developed will provide a more sustainable route to advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) and membrane filtration, high performance technologies that currently are limited in application due to concerns associated with their chemical demand, cost and carbon footprint.
