The issue of water pollution has become a serious problem because millions of people are suffering from water-related diseases caused by bacteria, viruses and others toxic substances including arsenic and chromium. Owing to its catalytic activity, high surface area, and tunable morphology, many researchers are exploring cerium oxide materials to absorb and remediate arsenic and chromium cations from contaminated water.  We are currently optimizing the synthesis of ceria particles with varying morphology including flower-like and hollow ceria nanospheres and studying the influence of morphology on the efficient removal of As(V) and Cr(VI). Ceria morphology was tuned by changing morphosynthesis parameters including: cerium ion source, solvent, templating agent, temperature, and time. Structural, compositional, and morphological studies of successfully synthesized ceria nanomaterials were conducted using scanning electron microscopy, infrared spectroscopy, and powder X-ray diffraction. Inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) was used to measure the removal of As(V) and Cr(VI) in contaminated water samples. ICP-MS results showed over 90% removal of arsenic and chromium cations. Current studies are also focused on fabricating water filtration membranes based on the inclusion of ceria particles within synthetic clay nanocomposites.

Cerium oxide nanomaterials for water filtration

251st National Meeting (2016)

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