Development of porous materials using 3D printing for the detection and removal of emerging pollutants.

• Grant number: 24/06740-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: January 01, 2025
• End date: September 30, 2028
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Materials and Metallurgical Engineering - Nonmetallic Materials
• Principal Investigator: Daniel Souza Corrêa
• Grantee: Douglas Scarabello
• Host Institution: Embrapa Instrumentação Agropecuária. Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária (EMBRAPA). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 18/22214-6 - Towards a convergence of technologies: from sensing and biosensing to information visualization and machine learning for data analysis in clinical diagnosis, AP.TEM

Abstract

According to recent statistics, domestic effluents produced by 45% of the Brazilian population do not receive adequate treatment, contributing to the contamination of surface waters in densely populated regions. Compounding this issue is the lack of comprehensive chemical regulation for drinking water in Brazil, resulting in an unknown distribution of these contaminants in surface waters, constituting a serious public health problem. In this context, it is imperative to develop new efficient technologies to mitigate the environmental impacts caused by emerging pollutants. Hydrogels and aerogels have emerged as promising solutions in environmental applications because of their unique properties, as these materials are potential platforms for detecting, quantity, and remove emerging contaminants. By incorporating various nanomaterials as gelators provides them with multifunctional response capabilities. Therefore, developing hydrogels and aerogels from the combination of biodegradable polymers and nanomaterials can be useful for the detection and/or removal of emerging pollutants in aquatic matrices. Hydrogels and aerogels will be produced using 3D printing, adding the freeze-drying step with Airgel. The previously synthesized nanomaterials will be associated with the polymer matrix to generate composite materials. Once synthesized, optimized, and characterized for their chemical composition, the synthesized materials will have their pollutant detection and/or removal performance evaluated for environmental applications. Detection of analyte will be conducted using spectroscopic methods and through digital image analysis. The effectiveness of adsorption will be evaluated by comparing the concentrations of pollutants before and after the process using physicochemical techniques. The feasibility of applying the same material for the two proposed approaches will be evaluated, aiming to develop multifunctional platforms for the treatment of emerging pollutants.