[CCoE Notice] Thesis Announcement: Sahag Bozoian, "Influence of AG Nanoparticle Loading on Dye, Salt Removal Efficiency of Graphene Oxide Membranes"

[Greenwell, Stephen J]

[Thesis Defense Announcement at the Cullen College of Engineering]
INFLUENCE OF AG NANOPARTICLE LOADING ON DYE AND SALT REMOVAL EFFICIENCY OF GRAPHENE OXIDE MEMBRANES
Sahag Bozoian
April 17, 2025, 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. (CST)
Location: Chemical Conference Room s234

Committee Chair:
Dr. Alamgir Karim
Committee Members:
Dr. Devin L. Shaffer| Dr. Ahmed Elzatahry
Abstract
Nano-engineered materials such as 2D nanomaterials and desalination membranes, which are potential for providing clean water, are expected to play an important role in future water purification applications.  To this end, obtaining high salt and dye rejection in nanofiltration membranes technologies Among these technologies graphene oxide (GO), is one that attracted the attention of the scientific community to improve in the water purification industry. Despite GO membranes amazing properties, they face significant challenges that hinder their application to water purification technologies, such as swelling under aqueous environments, which affects the membranes long term rejection performance. These issues were mitigated through the incorporation of nanoparticles, such as silver nanoparticles, enhancing the membranes efficiency in removing salts and dyes from wastewater. Numerous studies are devoted to the incorporation of silver nanoparticles into GO membranes and their performance enhancement; however, a significant gap remains in the literature regarding the systematic analysis of silver nanoparticle loading and concentration on the dye rejection performance of GO membranes, which this study tries to address.

GO-Ag NP membranes were synthesized on polyether sulfone (PES) substrates using vacuum filtration, with a wide range of silver nanoparticle loading concentrations. Aimed to investigate the influence of nanoparticle concentration on the salt and dye rejection performance, to optimize Ag NP loading for enhanced nanofiltration efficiency. The samples obtained were analyzed using XRD, UV-VIS spectroscopy, SEM, FTIR spectroscopy, Rame Harte goniometer for contact angle measurements, and dead-end cell apparatus for rejection performance. XRD and SEM measurements indicated the effect of the concentration of the NP on the pore size of the membranes which alter the interlayer spacing (d-spacing) of the membranes which affect the water permeability and rejection performance of the membranes. Spectroscopic measurements in the UV-VIS-NIR range were used to analyze the concentration of the dye molecules in the feed and permeate solutions crucial for dye rejection performance of the membranes. The FTIR transmission spectrum showed the effect of Ag NP concentration on the functional groups in the GO membranes, highlighting the interaction of Ag-NP with the GO membranes. Finally, the contact angle and rejection performance show the impact of Ag NP concentration on the hydrophobicity or hydrophilicity of GO membranes and removal performance of the membranes, providing the optimum conditions for high rejection efficiency.  The results of this study would allow controlling the direction of the salt and dye removal from wastewater using GO membranes with specific Ag NP concentrations or loading.


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