Publications

BACKGROUND Membrane distillation (MD) for desalination encounters significant hurdles as a result of pore wetting, leading to reduced permeate flux or deterioration in permeate quality over time. Therefore, membranes used in MD must be highly hydrophobic to prevent liquid from entering the pores and contaminating the permeate stream. In this study, a thin layer of MoS 2 ‐TiO 2 composite was coated using poly (DOPA) as an adhesive to enhance attachment. Two coating methods, interlinking and layering, were compared to determine the most effective method for forming a thin hydrophobic coating layer onto PVDF‐PES hollow fiber membrane. RESULTS Interestingly, this study revealed that increasing the number of dipping cycles led to higher flux, defying conventional expectations. This unexpected outcome is likely to have resulted from the thicker coatings creating a more hydrophobic surface, reducing water molecule adhesion and preventing wetting. Consequently, the membrane demonstrated enhanced flux despite its increased thickness. Among the membranes tested, the MoS 2 ‐TiO 2 /PVDF‐PES membrane coated using the layering method exhibited the best performance, leading to a flux of 2.06 kg m −2 h −1 and 99.99% salt rejection. This superior performance can also be attributed to the membrane's hydrophobic properties, evident in its water contact angle (WCA) of 99°. By contrast, the interlinking method resulted in lower performance, with a permeate flux of 1.70 kg m −2 h −1 and 99.96% salt rejection, which is likely to have resulted from its lower WCA of 86°. CONCLUSION The findings from this study suggest that the coating method has the potential to greatly improve membrane distillation performance through wettability modification rather than altering membrane porosity. © 2024 Society of Chemical Industry (SCI).

Groundwater contamination is a serious environmental problem that could hinder the world from contributing to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. This article provides an overview of how water scientists collectively address this issue and what innovative solutions can be identified to strengthen water resilience against climate change. For this purpose, this work critically reviews the applicability of water technologies for treatment of contaminated groundwater laden with As, Hg, or F through literature reviews using the Web of Sciences (WoS). Their benefits and limitations in applications are evaluated and compared. Their operational conditions such as pH, dose, reaction time, concentration of contaminants, and treatment performance are summarized. The implications of climate change on water scarcity and the roles of digitalization in water sector are discussed. It is conclusive from a literature survey of 225 articles (1997–2023) that both membrane filtration and adsorption have demonstrated outstanding removal over 80% for As concentrations from 0.025 to 1 mg/L. Reverse osmosis (RO) can completely remove As and F from contaminated groundwater. The performances of low-cost Fe0 in removing As and F are comparable to those of costly RO from 1 to 100 mg/L. Oxidation technology has proven its effectiveness in removing As up to 100 mg/L. Phytoremediation could treat Hg(II)-contaminated groundwater cost-effectively with its concentration less than 0.5 mg/L. The findings reveal the prowess of existing technologies in supplying clean water for global community. Although various technologies are available, the key factors in selecting the most suitable treatment for contaminated groundwater depend on technical applicability, groundwater properties, cost-effectiveness, and long-term impacts on the environment. As water quality are critical to public health, this suggests that the world needs to uncover how economic development and environmental protection can be achieved simultaneously, while dealing with the implications of climate change on water supply using digitalization in water sector.

A novel organic-inorganic nanocomposite membrane with green material based is prepared by incorporating sulfonated holey graphene oxide (SHGO) into nanocrystalline cellulose/polyvinyl alcohol (NCC/PVA) matrix as polymer electrolyte membrane (PEMs) via solution casting method. Introducing sulfonic acid group in graphene oxide (GO) yielded sulfonated graphene oxide (SGO) and the hole effect on the graphitic plane of GO for SHGO on NCC/PVA significantly improves the proton conductivity of membranes by creating more interconnected proton transfer channels and promoting proton transfer across the membrane. Highest proton conductivity values of 1.1 × 10-2 S cm-1 is obtained by NCC/PVA-SHGO-1.0 at 80o C under 100% relative humidity (RH). Additionally, mechanical and chemical stability tests indicate an enhancement in those properties. However, hydrogen permeation has slightly increase due to the hole effect. Increasing SHGO loading in NCC/PVA has improve its properties and performance. At 80o C, under 100% RH, NCC/PVA-SHGO-1.0 exhibit the highest power density and current density of 31.4 mW/cm2 and 60.2 mA/cm2, respectively which is three times higher compared to pristine NCC/PVA. This work summarise that incorporating SHGO into NCC/PVA membranes can significantly improves its properties, performance and membrane durability which entitle them as a potential candidate for PEMs.

Bisphenol A, an endocrine disrupting compounds that affect human homeostasis. Studies on BPA are focusing on the impact of BPA in reproductive function and brain development. However, the effect of BPA on gut especially gastric cells is not well explored. Gut is directly in contact with ingested BPA; therefore, we aimed to determine the effect of BPA exposure on gastric cells proliferation at safe recommended concentration. Human gastric cancer cells (HGC-27) were treated with BPA at different concentration (low: 10-9M, 10-7M; high10-5M, 10-4M) and time point (24 hr, 48 hr, 72 hr). Cell viability assays were determined using MTS assay. Cells were further stained with Alexa Fluor-635 (F-actin) and Fluorescein (Hif-1α) protein for immunocytofluorescence. Data were analysed using ANOVA (p<0.05, n≥3). Cells treated with 10-9M BPA showed significance increase of cell viability after 48 hr (Mean ±SEM; 146%±0.03, p=0.01) and 72 hr (113%±0.03, p=0.00) compared to 24 hr treatment (77%±0.11, p=0.002). Similarly, cell treated with 10-7M BPA showed a significance increase after 48 hr (141%±0.03, p=0.03) and 72 hr (190%±0.03, p=0.02) compared to 24 hr cells treated with 10-7M (88%±0.05, p=0.01) and untreated (100%±0.07). Lower concentration of BPA increases the condensation of F-actin in all HGC-27 cells. Meanwhile, translocation of Hif-1α protein were observed in all BPA-exposed cells. Findings of this study revealed that BPA induced proliferation and condensation of F-actin structure of gastric cancer cells at low concentration.

Over the years, researchers have been developing different ventilation strategies as a potential solution for controlling infectious airborne transmissions in healthcare facilities. The effects of ventilation systems on airflow characteristics have been extensively discussed among researchers since SARS-CoV-2 outbreak in 2019. Based on a bibliometric study of 154 publications from 1970 to 2021 retrieved from the Web of Science (WoS) database, this paper examines the research landscape on the effects of ventilation strategies on airflow analysis in healthcare facilities. Results show that China is the most productive country due to its significant contributions to the top prolific authors and funding agencies, which have promoted the research development of the topic. Several research hotspots were identified through keyword co-occurrence analysis. Cluster 1 highlights the ventilation studies involving ventilation layouts and ventilation rates in healthcare facilities. Cluster 2 underlines the computational analysis of ventilation performance for reducing the exposure risk of occupants, which promotes the development of infection control measures. Cluster 3 strengthens the knowledge of the emission and dispersion characteristics of respiratory droplets in healthcare facilities. Overall, this paper highlights the future direction of the current research field other than identifying strategic collaborators and suitable publication outlets for interested researchers.

In this study, the effect of stabilization temperature on the performance of tubular carbon Upgrade the gas separation performance of the resultant carbon molecular sieve (CMS) membrane, a synthesized nanocrystalline cellulose (NCC) utilizing tissue paper as an added substance was included into the simpleton arrangement at pyrolysis temperatures of 800°C. This paper shows the inference of CMSs from BTDA-TDI/MDI polyimide (PI) arranged by means of a dip-coating strategy on an inorganic cylindrical help surface, trailed by a heat treatment (adjustment and carbonization) under Ar gas stream. Extraordinary consideration was given to the physicochemical attributes of the subsequent PI/NCC-based CMS and its comparing gas permeation properties. Pure gas permeation tests were performed utilizing H 2 , and N 2 at room temperature. The gas permeation information showed that the CMS displayed an amazing performance contrasted with the polymeric membrane. Upgrade in the two gas permeance and selectivity were watched arranged with fresh CMS membrane, with H2N2 selectivity of 434.68±1.39, regarding the neat CMS. By controlling different aging times (fresh, 1 day, multi week, and 3 months), CMSs with various structures and properties were gotten.

This study aims to develop a new PEM for fuel cell applications consisting of PSU/SPEKEKK/SGO membranes with improved physiochemical properties to surmount the low power generation of Nafion. The DFT calculations using NCI plots show that there are network interactions between PSU and SPEKEKK, established by the hydrogen bonding and vdW interactions. SGO was incorporated into the as-prepared PSU/SPEKEKK membrane. A solution casting method was employed to fabricate SGO-loaded composite membranes in the range of 0.1% to 1.5% (wt%). Structural evidence of the SGO and composite membranes was characterized by ATR-FTIR and FESEM, respectively. Adding SGO to PSU/SPEKEKK shows a significant increase in proton conductivity due to the presence of more protonated sites (SO3H) and water-mediated interactions for proton conduction. Of all the compositions considered, PSU/SPEKEKK/SGO-0.6-1.5% loading was found to have the highest proton conductivity, 0.03Scm−1. Although adding SGO to the composite membrane has reduced water absorption, the hydrophilic oxygenated functional groups in SGO, the bound water molecules, and the increased –SO3H groups have successfully improved the proton conductivity. The findings reveal that all composite membranes show excellent oxidative stabilities for 32 h in Fenton's reagent. To summarize, all composite membranes fabricated in this study show acceptable water uptake and swelling ratio, high oxidation, excellent thermal stability, and high proton conductivity.

Herein, we demonstrated the simultaneous formation of multi-component heterojunction consisting graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) and C, N co-doped anatase/rutile mixed phase by using facile sol-gel assisted heat treatment. The evolution of core-shell nanostructures heterojunction formation was elucidated by varying the temperature of heat treatment from 300°C to 600°C. Homogeneous heterojunction formation between g-C3N4 and anatase/rutile mixed phase was observed in gT400 with C and N doping into TiO2 lattice by O substitution. The core-shell nanoarchitectures between g-C3N4 as shell, and anatase/rutile mixed phase as core with C and N atoms are doped at the interstitial positions of TiO2 lattice was observed in gT500. The result indicated that core-shell nanoarchitectures photocatalyst (gT500) prepared at 500 ◦C exhibited the highest photocatalytic activity in the degradation of methyl orange under visible light irradiation. Meanwhile, the possible mechanisms of charge generation, migration, action species and reaction that probably occur at the gT500 sample were also proposed. The photodegradation results of gT500 correlated completely with the results of the PEC and photoluminescence analysis, which directly evidenced improved charge separation and migration as the crucial parameters governing photocatalysis. It is worthy to note that, the simultaneous formation of multicomponent heterojunction with core-shell structure provided an enormous impact in designing highly active photocatalyst with superior interfacial charge transfer.