Smart Materials for Water Desalination and Food Processes

DATE: JULY 2024
Nicolaus Copernicus University Poland | Faculty of Chemistry
Joanna Kujawa, PhD, DSc, prof. NCU
In cooperation with the German Jordanian University, Amman, Jordan

The pressing issue of water scarcity and restricted access to clean water, particularly in arid regions such as the Middle East, has sparked a vital research initiative to create materials for seawater desalination and potable water production.

The pipettes will be frequently used during membrane formation and modifications. Moreover, the pipettes will also be used during the assessment of membrane performance, i.e., feed solutions preparation and collection of samples for further analyses from the separation process (salinity, level of removal impurities).

Toward effective fluorinated terpolymer-based materials for desalination with superior mechanical, chemical, and anti-icing features (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.desa...)

Rare earth metal oxides smart modifiers in 3D re-entrant surface architecture for efficient membrane separation (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.desa...)

Membranes with surficial spherical nanoarchitecture – Material importance in emulsion formulation by premix membrane emulsification (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sepp...)

Porcupine quills-like structures containing smart PVDF/chitosan hybrids for anti-fouling membrane applications and removal of hazardous VOCs (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej....) See more publications: https://sites.google.com/view/...

The pipettes are expected to benefit students and researchers, including undergraduate students during the membrane technique course, undergraduate and postgraduate students for graduation projects, my PhD students, and early-career researchers in the research group.

My scientific work focuses on interdisciplinary research combining the issues of surface chemistry, materials chemistry and engineering, and separation processes, as well as designing and synthesizing new types of separation materials also inspired by nature (https://sites.google.com/view/...).

The work is accomplished through active international cooperation with various scientific institutions, which has made it possible to identify and focus on emerging problems, particularly the development of materials for water desalination and purification.