CAREER: Combining Materials Science and System-Level Analysis to Sustainably Supply Safe Drinking Water

Aging water supply infrastructure is a major challenge for providing safe drinking water, particularly in areas not serviced by centralized water treatment facilities. Existing approaches for drinking water treatment have tradeoffs. For example, treatment with chlorine can create harmful substances, and ultraviolet light and ozone require high energy and can be expensive.

The goal of this CAREER proposal is to develop new materials that can harness visible light inexpensively to generate reactive oxygen species as disinfectants to kill pathogens in water. The newly designed materials will be tested for the ability to kill a range of pathogens, including the microorganism that causes Legionellosis, a deadly disease responsible for >$400 million/year in healthcare costs in the US.

The scientific discoveries from this research will be used to improve public awareness of safe drinking water through a podcast in which the public will submit questions. Podcast listening has significantly increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, suggesting this will be an effective mode of engaging the general public. The investigator will also develop a Science Through Storytelling program to enhance K-6 student knowledge using the relatable context of drinking water to develop positive attitudes and sense of identification around STEM topics.

This CAREER proposal combines fundamental science and principles of environmental engineering to develop graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) water treatment technologies leveraging energy-efficient LEDs. g-C3N4 is a non-metal, visible-light photocatalyst that is synthesized using low cost, abundant precursors, making it a promising alternative photocatalyst for drinking water treatment. While modifications of g-C3N4 chemistry have been pursued to improve photocatalytic performance, the link between molecular structure, physicochemical properties, and microorganism inactivation is not fully resolved.

The overall goal of this work is to establish a rational design framework for visible-light enabled, sustainable water disinfection by connecting g-C3N4 properties to both material chemistry and antimicrobial efficacy. Doing so will enable intentional material design adaptable to a range of water matrices and target bacteria. An important advance of this research includes expanded inactivation testing of drinking water pathogens like Legionella pneumophila, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and nontuberculous mycobacteria.

This will provide more relevant results for water treatment, given that >90% of current studies have focused only on Escherichia coli inactivation. Finally, this research will integrate life cycle and economic feasibility assessment to ensure sustainable advancement of photocatalytic water disinfection. The PI will work with (i) K-6 students in a newly developed Science Through Storytelling program, (ii) 6-12 students through the Carnegie Science Center’s annual SciTech Days, and (iii) the general public in a podcast focused on drinking water questions and concerns sourced from our community.

Through these activities, the PI aims to demonstrate how the public can become active participants in developing innovative science and engineering solutions to the grand challenge of sustainably providing safe drinking water.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.