Phys.org September 5, 2024
The wide presence of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in water is a major pollution concern even at the part per billion level. Current research emphasizes the use of microporous materials as adsorbents for pollutant removal but demonstrates the performance at a higher concentration than realistic environmental water due to the absence of efficient detection methods that can be coupled with the removal process. An international team of researchers (Japan, USA – University of Notre Dame) developed a pore-networked membrane (PNM) that could simultaneously remove and detect targeted trace-level PPCPs. The PNMs were designed by interconnecting adsorbents within polymer matrices, forming continuous, tunable porous networks that were accessible for PPCPs, thereby offering high selectivity and adsorption capacity. Evaluations across water samples containing 13 pollutants demonstrated the capability of PNMs to selectively adsorb PPCPs for removal and subsequently release them into analysis solution for detection. According to the researchers their design could be used in water treatment workflow… read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Concept of pore-networked membranes with the fillers interconnected to form hierarchical porous networks. Credit: Communications Materials volume 5, Article number: 161 (2024)Â