INMA Seminar (27th Nov.): Dandan Gao, from the Johannes Gutenberg University (Mainz, Germany)
Title: “A scalable flow device for the removal of organic and inorganic pollutants from water”
Invited speaker: Dr. Dandan Gao, from the Johannes Gutenberg University (Mainz, Germany)
Date and time: 27th November 2025, 12:00
Location: Conference Room, Edificio I+D+i, Campus Río Ebro
Presentation summary:
Join us to learn about the latest innovations in water purification, a key area for facilitating easy access to clean water, especially for remote areas or after industrial/environmental emergencies.
Dr. Dandan Gao will present the development of a 3D-printed open source flow-through device (Scheme 1) designed to achieve water purification under scalable operation. This work builds upon previous research where polyoxometalate ionic liquid (POM-IL) hybrid materials, supported on commercial silica, were used for the removal of multiple water pollutants in lab-scale small volumes.
The key advancement is a novel composite filter (POM-IL@nCF) that has been integrated into a modular flow reactor. This innovative filter was designed using nanostructured Cu foam (nCF), which was functionalised with a polyoxometalate ionic liquid.
The resulting system is highly efficient for the removal of both organic and inorganic pollutants from large water volumes (demonstrated with 6 runs, 900 mL in total) under flow. A significant advantage is that the nCF can be recycled by a quick rinsing step.
Furthermore, the open-source 3D printed device design allows for the integration of in situ spectroscopy (e.g., UV-Vis) to monitor real-time reaction progress. It also provides systems for facile adaptation to electrochemical flow reactors for other related projects.
