[Advanced Water Treatment Technologies and Environmental Sensing]

Our laboratory has continued to advance remediation and water treatment technologies in the areas of sensing and separation of hazardous heavy metal and metalloid (e.g. arsenic, chromium, and uranium). Specifically, our group has developed and demonstrated novel, magnetic metal oxide nanocrystals (e.g. iron oxide (Fe₃O₄), manganese oxide (Mn_xO_y), and manganese ferrite nanocrystals (Mn_zFe_3-zO₄)) of varying sizes, shapes, compositions, and tailored surface chemistries for optimized metal/metalloid adsorption, separation, and quantification, among other applications. Related to this research, our laboratory is also developing and evaluating similar materials for the separation of other inorganic pollutants and rare earth elements as part of reimagined water sensing/treatment technologies. In addition to particle-based separation technologies, our laboratory has also developed tunable, graphene-based nanocomposites as new, novel photocatalysts, which can be tailored for a range of aqueous-based applications, including selective (photo)redox chemistries. Further, our laboratory was focused on the design, development, and evaluation of highly selective and reactive (photocatalytic) nanoscale materials capable of sequestering and/or degrading contaminants in complicated (aqueous) matrixes.