I-Corps: Chlorine-Free Water Disinfection System

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is to enable better approaches for water disinfection. For the last century, chlorine disinfection has improved human health in developed nations worldwide by reducing waterborne diseases like typhoid, cholera, and dysentery. More recently, there has been increased scrutiny on chlorine's contribution to potentially harmful disinfection by-products (DBPs).

This project develops a more accessible, sustainable, and safe method to disinfect drinking water. The proposed technology is both energy-efficient and chlorine-free, and can be used for short-term outdoor activities like camping or hiking, emergency response after disasters such as earthquakes or hurricanes, as well as point-of-use (POU) treatment systems for hospitals, remote areas, and developing communities.

The technology can also be integrated into POU systems like water bottles, faucets, tabletop pitchers, shower heads, and even swimming pools. The approach can be potentially retrofitted directly into existing pipelines to provide antimicrobial benefits over the entire distribution system while also reducing the residual chlorine.

This I-Corps project develops a chlorine-free disinfection technology that synergistically uses a locally-enhanced electric field and the natural biocidal effects of copper to kill pathogens in drinking water. This approach enables high microbial inactivation with low copper doses and low electrical energy consumption. The underpinning mechanism exploits the lightning rod effect by applying a low voltage to electrodes with coaxial configurations and/or nanowire-modified surfaces.

This enhanced electric field is capable of not only inactivating pathogens directly upon contact but also increasing the permeability of cell membranes for microbial copper uptake, resulting in more effective inactivation.

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.