<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ks_c_5601-1987">
<meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 15 (filtered medium)">
<!--[if !mso]><style>v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
.shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
</style><![endif]--><style><!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Gulim;
panose-1:2 11 6 0 0 1 1 1 1 1;}
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:"\@Gulim";
panose-1:2 11 6 0 0 1 1 1 1 1;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
mso-fareast-language:KO;}
span.EmailStyle17
{mso-style-type:personal-compose;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
color:windowtext;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
--></style><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]-->
</head>
<body lang="EN-US" link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72" style="word-wrap:break-word">
<div class="WordSection1">
<div align="center">
<table class="MsoNormalTable" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="600" style="width:6.25in">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="padding:0in 0in 0in 0in">
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black"><img width="600" height="174" style="width:6.25in;height:1.8125in" id="_x0000_i1049" src="cid:image001.png@01DBAA2A.C39F31A0" alt="Dissertation Defense Announcement at the Cullen College of Engineering"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div align="center">
<table class="MsoNormalTable" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" style="background:white">
<tbody>
<tr style="height:242.25pt">
<td style="padding:30.0pt 15.0pt 7.5pt 15.0pt;height:242.25pt">
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center;mso-line-height-alt:15.0pt">
<b><span style="font-size:18.0pt;color:#C8102E">Plasma-treated mxene intercalated nanoporous graphene oxide membrane for molecular separation<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center;mso-line-height-alt:15.0pt">
<b><span style="font-size:18.0pt;color:#C8102E"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center;line-height:15.0pt">
<b><span style="font-size:13.0pt;color:black">Dhruval Shah</span></b><b><span style="font-size:13.0pt"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center;line-height:15.0pt">
<span style="font-size:13.5pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;text-align:center;line-height:150%">
<span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">April 17, 2025; 2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.<br>
Location: Chemical Engineering Conference Room (S234), Eng. Bldg. 1<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:3.75pt;text-align:center;line-height:16.5pt">
<b><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">Committee Chairs:</span></b><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black"><br>
Alamgir Karim, Ph.D.</span><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:15.0pt;text-align:center;line-height:16.5pt">
<b><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">Committee Members:</span></b><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black"><br>
Triantafillos J. Mountziaris, Ph.D. | Devin L. Shaffer, Ph.D. </span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height:7.95in">
<td style="padding:0in 15.0pt 15.0pt 15.0pt;height:7.95in">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:11.25pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:11.25pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:16.5pt">
<b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#C8102E">Abstract</span></b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#C8102E"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:11.25pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:11.25pt;margin-left:0in;text-align:justify;line-height:16.5pt">
<span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">Membrane-based water purification is a solution that is vital to removing the obstacles that the whole world faces for the purpose of acquiring clean water. For their property of obtaining high ion rejection
in nanofiltration membranes, technologies, such as graphene oxide (GO), 2-D nanomaterials have taken center stage in the water purification industry as a solution. Nevertheless, a significant limitation of GO-based membranes is their inherent swelling, which
detracts from separation performance and long-term stability. This study builds upon previous studies in which crosslinked membranes made of GO and MXene were reported. The material used in this setup had self-crosslinking functionality through Ti–O–Ti interactions
that resulted in reduced membrane swelling and still managed the performance of dye and ion rejection at high levels. However, two steps of the prior studies, namely thermal annealing and mechanical compression, were used for the crosslinking reaction to take
place, which limited both process scalability and membrane performance.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:11.25pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:11.25pt;margin-left:0in;text-align:justify;line-height:16.5pt">
<span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">We also propose in this study a new route in which the procedure incorporates both microwave-assisted annealing and plasma treatment. It consists of arc discharge using microwave-assisted eel heating
technology to make up the nanoporous graphene oxide membranes running with MXene. The process uses microwave radiation to create a highly conductive (with a powerful density of sp©÷ carbon domains) nanoporous graphene oxide structure and the growth of crosslinking
bridges. So, this modification leads to a membrane that is more robust, swelling is suppressed, and a compact nanometer-scaled porous structure is formed.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:11.25pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:11.25pt;margin-left:0in;text-align:justify;line-height:16.5pt">
<span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">The GO-MXene membranes that have been developed and treated with plasma have a very good water permeance of 3.6 LMH/bar and they outshine even the best previously reported GO-MXene membranes. Also, the
salt rejection tests that have been performed at concentrations of 500 to 1000 ppm show > 90% rejection for MgCl</span><span style="font-family:"Cambria Math",serif;color:black">©ü</span><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black"> and NaCl, while
the dye filtration experiments have 100% rejection of organic dyes. The report, therefore, demonstrates that the role of plasma treatment is substantial in improving both membrane efficacy and lifespan. Thus, in this task, we have paved the path for establishing
an advanced membrane comprising GO-MXene. The method has been shown to be scalable and excellent, and the membranes have been developed for the highest efficiency nanofiltration applications.</span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding:0in 0in 0in 0in">
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black"><img width="600" height="82" style="width:6.25in;height:.8541in" id="_x0000_i1050" src="cid:image002.png@01DBAA2A.C39F31A0" alt="Engineered For What's Next"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
</body>
</html>