Discipline: Ecology Environmental and Earth Sciences
Subcategory: Environmental Engineering
Corliss Johnson - North Carolina Central University
Nanomaterials has been employed in water treatment applications and have been utilized in processes for removing water pollutants. Since the Earth’s water is composed of approximately 97% salt water and can be harmful for human consumption, several studies on it have been performed. Moreover, some nanomaterials have been found to be effective in water remediation of salt water. Titanium and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are materials that have been found to be effective in water remediation methods. An objective of in this study is to obtain information about the behaviors of titanium and CNTs in salt water. Furthermore, it is hypothesized that knowledge about the salinity, pH, conductivity, and aggregate sizes of titanium and carbon nanotubes at various concentrations of salt water could reveal information about their dispersion and aggregation patterns. This information could lead to developing methods for using titanium and CNTs in processes of the removal of water pollutants. Forms of titanium and of CNTs, such as P25 titanium dioxide and multi-walled CNTs (MWCNTs), are examined in this study. Experimental procedures involving the analyses of solutions that are comprised of forms of titanium and of CNTs at sodium chloride concentrations of 0.5% to 3.5% will be conducted. Characterization and analytical techniques using dynamic light scattering (DLS), pH and conductivity meters, and UV-Vis spectrophotometer will be implemented in order to the obtain the aggregate sizes, pH, and conductivities of these solutions. Meanwhile, current results have indicated the zeta potentials of P25 titanium dioxide at varying concentrations of sodium chloride. These results will be compared with conductivity and pH data. Data from analytical and characterization methods will be interpreted for the purpose of determining if physiochemical properties of titanium and CNTs in salt water reveal aggregation and dispersion patterns.
Funder Acknowledgement(s): Funding was provided through a grant to John Bang.
Faculty Advisor: John Bang, jjbang@nccu.edu
Role: Research that was discussed in the abstract submitted by Corliss Johnson was conducted by Corliss Johnson.