News Judith Yang, Assistant Professor
The Mascaro Sustainability Initiative awarded the first seed research grants in March 2004. Judith Yang, assistant professor of materials science and engineering, was one principal investigator awarded a grant to study the purification of drinking water.
Development of Nano-bimetallic Catalysts for the Removal of Nitrates from Drinking Water by Coordinated Synthesis, Structure, and Selectivity/Activity Measurements
Thrust Areas
Water Sustainability, water purification, decontamination, heterogeneous catalysis, nanoparticles, nanocharacterization
Principal Investigator
Judith C. Yang, Materials Science and Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, , 412-624-8613
Co-Principal Investigators
Anatoly Frenkel, Physics Dept., Yeshiva University, 245 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10016, afrenke2@ymail.yu.edu, 212-340-7827
Duane Johnson, Materials Science & Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 312E MSE Bldg. C-246, 304 W. Green Street, Urbana, IL 61801, d_johnson@mail.mrl.uiuc.edu, 217-265-0319
Abstract
This research project is a synergistic effort between an existing collaboration between the above PI’s, on the prediction and determination of the structural habits of supported nanoparticles, and the water Campws (Center for advanced materials for water sustainability) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Contact: Charlie Werth, Civil Engineering, UIUC). We will focus on novel Pd/M/supported (M=Pt, Ag, Cu, Co, Fe, Mo, Ni, Rh, Ir, Mn and Cr) bimetallic nanoparticles for the denitrification of nitrate to nitrogen.
The effort of the Dr Werth’s team is the synthesis plus measurements of the selectivity, activity and efficiency of these bimetallic catalysts for denitrification. Our team’s focus will be on the determination of the structural habits of the exact same material by both ex situ and in situ electron microscopy and synchrotron X-ray spectroscopy, as well as theoretical modeling of these same bimetallic catalysts. This combined effort should lead to the structure-activity relationships at the nanoscale, essential for the efficient development of catalysts for the purification of drinking water.
Expected Impact
Results from this project are expected to identify the most promising catalysts to use for the reduction of nitrate and other oxidized compounds and gain fundamental understanding of the reactivity and selectivity of these new catalytic materials. Presently nitrate is either not removed, or it is removed using ion exchange resins. The former presents health risks; the latter is expensive because waste streams must still be treated when the resins are regenerated. Hence, we expect a significant saving to result when nitrate can be removed from drinking water sources using bimetallic catalysts.
