Pyroelectric Materials for Water Treatment

Abstract

“Ensuring the available and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all” is one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals outlined by the United Nations in 2015. Therefore, research into more sustainable and environmentally friendly methods of water treatment has become a point of interest. Pyroelectric materials, such as strontium barium titanate (SBT), could provide one such method, utilising waste heat to do so. In order to determine the reality of this, Sr0.3Ba0.7TiO3 powder was synthesised and its pyroelectric, piezoelectric and ferroelectric properties characterised. The powder was then utilised in proof of concept studies in the disinfection of bacteria-contaminated water and the degradation of organic dyes. A 1.9 log reduction and 0.5 log reduction was achieved for Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) bacteria respectively after suspensions of the powder in bacterial solution were subjected to 6 thermal cycles from 25-45 °C. The same thermal cycling treatment was then used to degrade methylene blue and rhodamine b dye solutions, achieving decomposition percentages of 63% and 22% respectively after 6 thermal cycles. The quantification of the concentration of reactive oxygen species (ROS) produced by the powders was then attempted using UV-vis, fluorescence and absorbance spectroscopy with the aid of three known probes.

Date of Award	11 Dec 2019
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Bath
Supervisor	Chris Bowen (Supervisor) & Toby Jenkins (Supervisor)