UT to Hold Webinar on Advanced Functional Nanostructured Materials for Membrane and Fiber Sensor Applications

Engineered nanostructured materials have made various revolutionary developments in a wide array of industrial applications owing to their unique features. At the present era, functional nanomaterials have gained significant potentials in important domains, including energy, environment, water, medical, food and biopharmaceuticals.

This webinar intends to provide discussion on innovation of nanostructured membranes for membrane technology and optical fiber technology.  Compared to conventionally used polymeric and ceramic membranes, mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) or thin film nanocomposite (TFN) membranes tailored with functional nanostructured materials as well as electrospun nanofibrous membranes (ENMs) have shown promise in improving the efficiencies of the membrane processes to remove various types of pollutants exist in the contaminated water.

Functional nano-metal oxides, carbon allotropes, nanoclay and metal organic frame work exhibit excellent adsorption or catalytic mechanisms to eliminate pollutants from wastewater. When incorporated into membrane, their presence has led to superior membrane separation performance.

The unique combination of material science and membrane technology has shown great potential to meet the demands of global requirements for low-cost drinking water production. This presentation also provides some overviews on the zinc oxide/silver heterostructre designed optical fiber sensor for crude oil and COVID-19 detection.

Finally, the viability of the indigenous water treatment system developed by Advanced Membrane Technology Research Centre (AMTEC) has been evidenced in several wastewater treatment and desalination application where they have been identified as sustainable techniques in supplying drinking water in areas affected by natural disasters and salinity.

Some success stories related to the translational research and development of membrane technologies will also be presented.