סמינר מחלקה של - כפיר שפירא סטודנט תואר שני - מוליבדינום די-סולפיד על גבי פחם פעיל: מספח רב-תכליתי עם יישומים מעשיים בטיהור מים

School of Mechanical Engineering Seminar
Moday October 4.10.21 at 14:00 Room 206
 

Molybdenum Disulfide-Enabled Activated Carbon: a Multifunctional Adsorbent for Practical Water Treatment Applications

Kfir Shapira

M.Sc. student of Dr. Ines Zucker

Growing water scarcity and continuous water contamination with a mixture of organic and inorganic pollutants is an emerging environmental concern. Recently, engineered nanomaterials have been suggested to replace or enhance traditional technologies for water decontamination, with two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials (i.e., nanosheets) as the latest frontiers in this regard. Beyond graphene—the gold standard 2D nanomaterial—other nanosheets such as molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂) have started to grow attention as candidate materials for potential environmental benefits. While MoS₂ nanosheets have demonstrated selective and efficient adsorption potential toward heavy metals, there are still many barriers—such as nanomaterial practicality, safety, and sustainability—to its large-scale application in water treatment schemes.

            This study addresses these barriers through bottom-up growth of MoS₂ onto granular activated carbon (AC) as an active adsorbing platform, to prevent the nanomaterial leaching, allow its practical use without post separation steps, and assure the safe use of the treated water. In his talk, Kfir will discuss the design, synthesis, and characteristics of MoS₂@AC which demonstrated mercuric adsorption capacity of up to 1,280 mg mercury g^-1 MoS₂ (mercury was used as a target heavy metal pollutant). Finally, Kfir will discuss the potential use of the developed multifunctional adsorbent for simultaneous removal of mercury and methylene blue (as target organic pollutant). Moreover, the application of hybrid material was tested with background ions and natural groundwater samples, demonstrating removal of mercury to concentrations below the US-EPA maximum contamination level. Overall, findings from this work suggest a sustainable design of a multifunctional MoS₂-based adsorbent for simultaneous removal of organic and inorganic pollutants in environmentally relevant conditions, thus advancing the practical use of nanomaterial in water treatment schemes.