PFI-TT: Industrial scale production of high-performance, in-home water filters to protect public health from lead and arsenic in drinking water.

University Of Iowa, Iowa City IA

Investigators

Abstract

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Partnership for Innovation - Technology Translation (PFI-TT) project will help to improve access to safe and reliable drinking water supplies by ensuring safe and healthy water at the point where it is used or consumed. The proposed nanotechnology-enabled water filter technology provides a unique solution to drinking water pollutants, such as lead and arsenic, as an in-home or point-of-use (POU) technology. The technology could be used for unregulated water supplies like private drinking water wells, where water is often consumed with little to no treatment; day care centers, schools, offices, and other settings with extensive use of fountains and bubblers; or circumstances with limited freshwater resources, such as natural disasters or humanitarian missions. The proposed project will advance nanotechnology-enabled water treatment devices toward application scale. The project will (i) scale up electrospinning processes to fabricate nanofiber membrane sheets of dimensions necessary for integration into POU treatment devices; (ii) integrate these nanofiber membrane sheets into prototype POU treatment platforms to demonstrate ease of installation, use, and maintenance; and (iii) validate the device for removal of lead and arsenic under conditions typical of consumer product certification. These composite nanofiber water filters are innovative because of their (i) simple, highly tunable synthetic approach; (ii) higher external surface area (rather than internal porosity) enabling fast, non-diffusion limited rates of target removal; (iii) scalability, enabling application across a range of end users; and (iv) multi-functionality derived from co-integrated ion exchange and sorbent sites. The transformative aspect of this technology relates to our ability to exploit synthesis processes to create multi-functional, nanostructured materials with synergistic performance characteristics; the technology relies on a simple “one-pot” electrospinning synthesis for creation of a robust platform that is surface-enriched with multiple binding agents for metal capture. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.