Practical Water Treatment Solution Using Hydrogel Tablets

Azom与Guihua Yu教授进行了交谈。德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校关于一种新型的水凝胶片剂，能够将污染的水快速转化为纯净的饮用水。这个新颖的过程可能会在减轻全球水资源短缺方面产生很大的影响。

是什么促使您的研究发展一种新的方法来快速净化河水？

水危机是基于其对社会影响的全球风险，消费不安全是发病率和死亡率的主要原因。每90秒，一个孩子死于与水有关的疾病。因此，对更简单的方法和创新材料的需求很大，以消毒。亚博网站下载

长期以来，干净的水一直是国际目标。这种多功能水凝胶如何在减轻全球水稀缺性方面产生很大的影响？

水凝胶与水分子有独特的相互作用。通过以分子尺度修饰水凝胶，可以将它们与所需的功能集成到水中的靶向污染物。另外，我们开发的大多数水凝胶来自具有缩放缩放的可加工性的低成本原材料。亚博网站下载水凝胶绝对是用于水净化的新兴材料平台。亚博网站下载

您能否提供这种新型水凝胶片剂如何快速将污染的水转化为纯净水的概述？

我们的水凝胶片consist of a catechol-functionalized chitosan skeleton and quinone-anchored activated carbon particles. The catechol-functionalized skeleton can spontaneously release hydrogen peroxide, a green chemical disinfectant, to kill bacteria. In addition, quinone-modified activated carbon particles speed up and enhance the bacteria-killing efficiency by disrupting the essential metabolization process of bacteria. After disinfection, the tablets are simply removed, leaving no chemical impurities behind in the water.

德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校的科学家和工程师开发的水凝胶平板电脑。图片来源：德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校

使用水凝胶片剂净化水。图片来源：德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校

In your research, you mention other water purification methods, including water disinfection using chemicals, thermal-based water treatments and other physical water purification technologies such as membrane filtration and solar assisted distillation. What are the limitations of these methods?

热过程（例如蒸气压缩和多效蒸馏）令人着迷，但是它们需要显着的基础设施，并结合了能量能量回收的回收，以使它们具有反向渗透的竞争力。使用膜净化水的反渗透技术有几个局限性，包括高成本，效率低下，潜在的污垢和大量废水排放。

How does your hydrogel tablet overcome the current challenges in water treatment technologies?

我们的developed hydrogels barely need any energy to function. They can be used in two ways: first, using them as disinfection tablets, for which no energy (electricity) is required. You only need to drop the tablets into bacteria-containing water. Our hydrogels will not bring disinfection by-products (DBPs), and they are suitable for long-term use. According to CDC.gov, humans exposed to large amounts of DBPs could experience liver damage, bladder cancer, miscarriage, birth defects and decreased nervous system activity. The second way is to use it as a solar evaporator with a simple distillation setup. In this case, distilled water can be collected, using sunlight as the only energy input.

在研究过程中，您是否遇到了任何挑战，如果是，您如何解决它们？

The initial design took a lot of time since we wanted to make biocompatible hydrogels (chitosan) that had anti-biofouling properties. In addition, the source of bacteria was hard to find. Luckily, we had our collaborators in chemical engineering to help and support us. Teamwork was very important when it came to achieving our goal.

除了净化水，这些水凝胶还可以使用什么？

水凝胶通常在我们的日常生活中使用，例如婴儿尿布，软接触透镜和固体空气新鲜剂。由于其刺激反应性和出色的生物相容性，常规水凝胶已在组织工程，药物输送和其他生物医学应用中经常使用。我们的小组专注于使用水凝胶用于能源和水相关的应用，包括电池，超级电容器，大气水收集等。

How can this hydrogel tablet improve the lives of people in developing nations who do not necessarily have access to clean water?

As previously mentioned, our hydrogels do not require much energy/electricity, which greatly benefits off-grid communities. The low cost of their raw materials also makes them attractive for people living in developing areas.

水净化的未来对您来说是什么样的？

It might take a few years to commercialize a product from research, but we believe the broader impact of hydrogel materials in the energy-water nexus is expected to become increasingly important in the years to come.

您的研究的下一步是什么？

我们目前正在测试水凝胶杀死水中更多病原体的能力。将来还将考虑其他重金属离子和有机污染物。同时，我们还正在进行更彻底的水质测试，并与UT能源研究所合作，以更多的原型促进商业化。

关于古乌（Guihua Yu）教授

Guihua Yu教授目前曾在德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校的材料科学，工程和机械工程系任职亚博网站下载。亚博老虎机网登录他的研究兴趣包括纳米结构的聚合物材料和混合有机无机纳米材料的合成和自组装，对其化学和物理性质的基本了解以及对其在能源，环境和可持续性中具有技术重要应用的探索。亚博网站下载

他获得了无数奖项，例如2021年Blavatnik国家奖项，伊迪丝（Edith）和彼得·奥多内尔（Peter O'Donnell）工程奖，德克萨斯州工程与科学学院（TAMEST），2021年，IAAM奖章奖，2021年，Polymer International -IPAC国际奖亚博老虎机网登录2020年，应用聚合物科学的创造力奖。亚博老虎机网登录

He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and Institute of Physics, Sloan Research Fellow and Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar. He serves as an Associate Editor of ACS Materials Letters.