PlasMonic photo-thErmo-catalyzed composite membranes for Remediation of persistent poLlutants IN water

Water contaminants of emerging concern (CEC) are pressing issues due to their high persistence and deep impact on ecosystems.

Amongst them, antibiotics contribute indelibly to the proliferation of 2nd generation CECs, such as antibiotic-resistant bacteria and -resistance genes.

MERLIN project pursues developing an integral and green solution for the abatement of CECs water pollution by applying forefront photo-thermo-catalytic membranes. Thus, photocatalysis arises as one of the greener and more promising technologies for CECs mineralization.

However, its success is conditional on the use of semiconductors (SCs) with ad-hoc properties to work under solar irradiation.

MERLIN will finely tune the band-edge potentials of novel photoactive SCs, in order to expand their solar light harvesting capacity and efficiency.

In addition, the cooperative effects of dual photo- and -thermal catalysts will be explored by engineering local thermal energy hot-spots into SCs photocatalyst.

For instance, the thermal-assisted photodegradation of CECs is foreseen to overcome the performance of classic photocatalytic systems.So, MERLIN aims by engineering the band gap of nanostructured SnO2 and CuO SCs to confer them a plasmonic response, making them autarchic photo- thermo- catalyst materials (PPTM) able to drive an accelerated CECs mineralization.

In addition, MERLIN proposes developing forefront photo-thermo-catalytic nanocomposite membranes through the immobilization of PPTM into 3D-polymeric micro-structured membranes via 3D printing techniques.

These composites pursue to immobilize CECs into the polymeric scaffold while PPTM nanotechnology faces their degradation (and of their sub-products) until their complete mineralization.

Finally, MERLIN will run under the circular economy concept, where the green membranes will be developed for their recovery and reusability, considering the full assessment of their ecotoxicity.