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Nandakumar DK, Zhang Y, Ravi SK, Guo N, Zhang C, Tan SC. Solar Energy Triggered Clean Water Harvesting from Humid Air Existing above Sea Surface Enabled by a Hydrogel with Ultrahigh Hygroscopicity. ADVANCED MATERIALS (DEERFIELD BEACH, FLA.) 2019; 31:e1806730. [PMID: 30637806 DOI: 10.1002/adma.201806730] [Citation(s) in RCA: 70] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2018] [Revised: 11/13/2018] [Indexed: 05/27/2023]
Abstract
Water scarcity is a ubiquitous problem with its magnitude expected to rise in the near future, and efforts to seek alternative water sources are on the rise. Harvesting water from air has intrigued enormous research interest among many groups with Scientific American listing this technology as the second most impactful technology that can bring about a massive change in people's lives. Though desalination offers a huge prospect in mitigating water crisis, its practicality is limited by exorbitant energy requirement. Alternatively, the air above sea water is moisture rich, with the quantity of vapor increasing at the rate of 0.41 kg m-2 . Herein, a method to sustainably harvest water from this moisture rich zone is demonstrated by employing a nanoporous superhygroscopic hydrogel, which is capable of absorbing water from highly humid atmospheres by over 420% (highest) of its own weight. The desorption process from the hydrogel, occurring at 55 °C (lowest), is triggered by natural sunlight (A.M 1.5) thereby ensuing an external energy-less water harvesting approach. The hydrogel exhibits excellent stability even after 1000 absorption/desorption cycles. Through multiple absorption/desorption cycles, it is possible to harvest over 10 L water per kg of hydrogel daily.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dilip Krishna Nandakumar
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National University of Singapore, 9 Engineering Drive 1, Singapore, 117574, Singapore
| | - Yaoxin Zhang
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National University of Singapore, 9 Engineering Drive 1, Singapore, 117574, Singapore
| | - Sai Kishore Ravi
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National University of Singapore, 9 Engineering Drive 1, Singapore, 117574, Singapore
| | - Na Guo
- Department of Physics and Centre for Advanced 2D Materials, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 117551, Singapore
| | - Chun Zhang
- Department of Physics and Centre for Advanced 2D Materials, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 117551, Singapore
- Department of Chemistry, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 117543, Singapore
| | - Swee Ching Tan
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National University of Singapore, 9 Engineering Drive 1, Singapore, 117574, Singapore
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Copic D, Maggini L, De Volder M. Monodisperse CNT Microspheres for High Permeability and Efficiency Flow-Through Filtration Applications. ADVANCED MATERIALS (DEERFIELD BEACH, FLA.) 2018; 30:e1706503. [PMID: 29424060 DOI: 10.1002/adma.201706503] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2017] [Revised: 12/17/2017] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Carbon nanotube (CNT)-based filters have the potential to revolutionize water treatment because of their high capacity and fast kinetics in sorption of organic, inorganic, and biological pollutants. To date, CNT filters either rely on CNTs dispersed in liquids, which are difficult to recover and cause safety concerns, or on CNT buckypaper, which offers high efficiency, but suffers from an intrinsic trade-off between filter permeability and capacity. Here, a new approach is presented that bypasses this trade-off and achieves buckypaper-like efficiency combined with filter-column-like permeability and capacity. For this, CNTs are first assembled into porous microspheres and then are packed into microfluidic column filters. These microcolumns exhibit large flow-through filtration efficiencies, while maintaining membrane permeabilities an order of magnitude larger then CNT buckypaper and specific permeabilities double that of activated carbon for similar flowrates (232 000 L m-2 h-1 bar-1 , 1.23 × 10-12 m2 ). Moreover, in a test to remove sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) from water, these microstructured CNT columns outperform activated carbon columns. This improved filtration efficiency and permeability is an important step toward a broader implementation of CNT-based filtration devices.
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Affiliation(s)
- Davor Copic
- Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, 17 Charles Babbage Road, CB3 0FS, Cambridge, UK
| | - Laura Maggini
- Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, 17 Charles Babbage Road, CB3 0FS, Cambridge, UK
| | - Michael De Volder
- Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, 17 Charles Babbage Road, CB3 0FS, Cambridge, UK
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LeDuc P, Agaba M, Cheng CM, Gracio J, Guzman A, Middelberg A. Beyond Disease, How Biomedical Engineering Can Improve Global Health. Sci Transl Med 2014; 6:266fs48. [DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.3009067] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Philip LeDuc
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
- Department of Computational Biology and Biological Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
| | - Morris Agaba
- The Nelson Mandela African Institute of Science and Technology, School of Life Sciences and Bioengineering, Arusha, Tanzania
| | - Chao-Min Cheng
- Institute of Nanoengineering and Microsystems, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 300, Taiwan
| | - Jose Gracio
- Nanotechnology Research Division, Centre for Mechanical Technology and Automation, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Aveiro, Portugal
- Deceased
| | - Amador Guzman
- Departamento de Ingeniería Mecánica y Metalúrgica, Pontificia Universidad Católica Santiago de Chile, Avenida Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Macul, Santiago, Chile
| | - Anton Middelberg
- Centre for Biomolecular Engineering, Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland 4072, Australia
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Wang H, Ma H, Zheng W, An D, Na C. Multifunctional and recollectable carbon nanotube ponytails for water purification. ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES 2014; 6:9426-9434. [PMID: 24806877 DOI: 10.1021/am501810f] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/03/2023]
Abstract
Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are promising nanomaterials that have the potential to revolutionize water treatment practices in the future. The direct use of unbounded CNTs, however, poses health risks to humans and ecosystems because they are difficult to separate from treated water. Here, we report the design and synthesis of carbon nanotube ponytails (CNPs) by integrating CNTs into micrometer-sized colloidal particles, which greatly improves the effectiveness of post-treatment separation using gravitational sedimentation, magnetic attraction, and membrane filtration. We further demonstrate that CNPs can effectively perform major treatment tasks including adsorption, disinfection, and catalysis. Using model pollutants such as methylene blue, Escherichia coli, and p-nitrophenol, we show that all the surfaces of individual CNTs in CNPs are accessible during water treatment. Our results suggest that the rational design of hierarchical structures represents a feasible approach to develop nanomaterials for engineering applications such as water and wastewater treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Haitao Wang
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences, University of Notre Dame , Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, United States
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Maiti A, Basu JK, De S. Development of a Treated Laterite for Arsenic Adsorption: Effects of Treatment Parameters. Ind Eng Chem Res 2010. [DOI: 10.1021/ie100612u] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Abhijit Maiti
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, Kharagpur-721302, India
| | - Jayanta Kumar Basu
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, Kharagpur-721302, India
| | - Sirshendu De
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, Kharagpur-721302, India
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