Miss Underwood's doctoral research seeks to develop and test new nano-composite materials for the use in water treatment. She wishes to improve upon the existing nano zero-valent iron technologies as well as to explore how specific nanotechnologies can be applied in an economic and incentivized fashion for successful technological adoption.
Water scarcity as well as water loss due contamination is a growing concern in contemporary water treatment. To help mitigate future demands; improvements to the existing water treatment processes to enhance sustainability is of the utmost importance.
Zero Valent Iron (ZVI) has long been championed for its effectiveness at treating water contaminants in groundwater particularly chlorinated halides. However, ZVI use for treatment outside of groundwater remains limited to agglomeration and preemptive oxidation. Chemical modifications to ZVI may prove to be the key to unlock this materials potential to a broader class of waters.
In this research ZVI has been modified with novel nanomaterials to enhance stability and research undertaken with attempt to fully characterized to give an understanding of composition and structure as well as provide insight into the best synthesis methods. Following characterization the material be tested against simulated wastewaters to understand interactions on organic and biological species. Finally, an understanding of nanotechnologies place in water treatment will be assessed.
Principal Investigator:
Dr Andrea Joana Correia Semiao, Dr Blanca Antizar-Ladislao
Co-Investigators:
Prof. Mark Wiesner (Duke University, US), Dr Ronan Bolton, Dr Vasileios Koutsos
