Shear-Spun Polymer Nanofibres For Water Purification
type: CreativeWork
description: Access to clean drinking water remains an issue for hundreds of millions of people across the globe, a problem that can be addressed through proper water filtration. Unfortunately, those most severely affected by a lack of access to clean drinking water are also those least able to financially or technologically remedy it. Whilst there are a number of man-portable, low-maintenance filters available, those with consistently high-quality filtration and long lifespans tend to be too expensive for those most in need. Alternately, those that fall within the lowest price ranges are cumbersome, delicate and prone to cracking and failure. Nanotechnology can offer a solution to this issue in the form of polymer nanofibres, a material that was hitherto prohibitively expensive. The studies presented in this thesis explored a novel method of synthesising polymer nanofibres that is capable of large-scale manufacture (done entirely using low-cost materials), the processing of these nanofibres into filters and testing their filtration capability under a variety of conditions. The synthetic technique, shear spinning, was found to be capable of quickly producing polystyrene nanofibres of diameters between 80-2500 nm under variable conditions (polymer concentrations of 10%-20% [by mass] polystyrene in solvent, shear velocity, antisolvent composition), giving the porous nanofibre matrix a hierarchical structure with a variety of pore sizes (50-2500 nm) scaling with the different nanofibre diameters. A popular contaminant adsorbent, powdered activated charcoal, was successfully integrated into some nanofibres, as was silver, a material with antibacterial properties, in the form of nanoparticles. EDX analysis of these doped nanofibres confirmed the retention of the nanoparticles and indicated retention efficiency greater than 80%. A variety of methods of nanofibre deposition (wet-laying deposition from slurry, drying and re-suspending, deposition under vacuum) were tested and examined, …
abstract: Access to clean drinking water remains an issue for hundreds of millions of people across the globe, a problem that can be addressed through proper water filtration. Unfortunately, those most severely affected by a lack of access to clean drinking water are also those least able to financially or technologically remedy it. Whilst there are a number of man-portable, low-maintenance filters available, those with consistently high-quality filtration and long lifespans tend to be too expensive for those most in need. Alternately, those that fall within the lowest price ranges are cumbersome, delicate and prone to cracking and failure. Nanotechnology can offer a solution to this issue in the form of polymer nanofibres, a material that was hitherto prohibitively expensive. The studies presented in this thesis explored a novel method of synthesising polymer nanofibres that is capable of large-scale manufacture (done entirely using low-cost materials), the processing of these nanofibres into filters and testing their filtration capability under a variety of conditions. The synthetic technique, shear spinning, was found to be capable of quickly producing polystyrene nanofibres of diameters between 80-2500 nm under variable conditions (polymer concentrations of 10%-20% [by mass] polystyrene in solvent, shear velocity, antisolvent composition), giving the porous nanofibre matrix a hierarchical structure with a variety of pore sizes (50-2500 nm) scaling with the different nanofibre diameters. A popular contaminant adsorbent, powdered activated charcoal, was successfully integrated into some nanofibres, as was silver, a material with antibacterial properties, in the form of nanoparticles. EDX analysis of these doped nanofibres confirmed the retention of the nanoparticles and indicated retention efficiency greater than 80%. A variety of methods of nanofibre deposition (wet-laying deposition from slurry, drying and re-suspending, deposition under vacuum) were tested and examined, …
author: Thompson, Noel
language: eng
keywords: purification, water, filtration, nanofibre, nanofiber, polymer, polystyrene, nanotechnology
license: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/27b9a01d-609b-46bc-8ad2-3154966a610a/download
license: http://purl.org/NET/rdflicense/allrightsreserved
date published: 2020-04-25
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:23:57Z
provider: Cambridge University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Cambridge

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.17863/CAM.62162