Search

Membrane reactors typically combine chemically reactive pathways with separation opportunities to increase conversion and chemical processes efficiency in liquid effluents treatment. The treatment of industrial bio-products, waste mixed solvents and agro-chemicals with such reactors are however challenging due to the natural affinity of such reactive materials for organic and biological matter leading to surface adsorption and fouling tendencies. Here, hybrid thin film composite catalytic membranes offering superior flow permeation characteristics, extremely high retention of low molecular weight organics and partial salt rejection capabilities were for the first time synthesized. Catalytic silver-metal nano-materials were for the first time homogeneously templated and encapsulated across metal organic frameworks nano-particles and incorporated across the top surface of poly(amide) thin films during interfacial polymerization. These novel materials offer high catalytic/anti-microbial behaviours due to the nano-structure of the metal nano-particles reduced within the metal organic framework template, forming unique hierarchical sub-100 nm hybrid nano-structures. These ultra-thin but yet dense membranes were able to simultaneously degrade chemicals and filter contaminants, opening new pathways for the design of the next generation thin film nano-composite membranes. Catalytic properties and homogeneity were evaluated for the Fenton-like heterogeneous catalytic degradation of 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid, a waste pesticide contained in agricultural wastewater.

Nano-porous metals offer great potential for applications such as bio-sensors, chemical reactors, platforms for cell growth, and media for separation because of their high surface area and reactivity at the nanoscale. The high surface to volume ratio of nano-porous metals also offers advanced plasmonic properties which may be put to use upon refining the control over pore size distributions in the nanoscale range. Here, the impact of the solution temperature on the nature of both ligaments and pores generated across ultra-thin AuAg50 metal leaves by chemical dealloying is demonstrated for the first time. The pores were found to be controllably tuneable within a range from 30 to 54 nm in diameter after 75 min of treatment in an etching solution with a temperature between 5 and 60 °C. The kinetics of the pore formation was studied by an in situ dealloying experiment on the small angle X-ray scattering beamline at the Australian Synchrotron and specific materials properties were thereafter cross-correlated to ex situ morphological experiments. This work demonstrates a straightforward new method to refine porous structures at the nanoscale and fine-tune surface properties across nano-porous metals that will extend their applications.