Title
Portable point-of-use photoelectrocatalytic device provides rapid water disinfection
Date Issued
01 October 2020
Access level
metadata only access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Barrios A.C.
Mondal I.
Bhagat K.
Abbaszadegan M.
Westerhoff P.
Perreault F.
Garcia-Segura S.
Abstract
Portable water purification devices are needed to provide safe drinking water in rural communities, developing communities with low quality centralized water distribution, and military or recreational applications. Filtration, ultraviolet light, or chemical additives provide a spectrum of alternatives to remove pathogens from water. For the first time, we design, fabricate and demonstrate the performance of a small portable photoelectric point-of-use device, and document its performance on pathogen inactivation. The device utilizes a commercial teacup from which TiO2 nanotube photoanodes were produced in-situ and, with a small rechargeable battery powered 365 nm light emitting diode, was able to achieve 5-log inactivation of Escherichia coli in 10 s and 2.6-log of Legionella in 60 s of treatment in model water samples. Treatment of natural water achieved a 1-log bacteria inactivation after 30 s due to matrix effects. The electro-photocatalytic disinfection reactor in a kup (e-DRINK) can provide a feasible and affordable solution to ensure access to clean water. More broadly, this work demonstrates the potential for illumination to improve the efficiency of electrocatalytic surfaces.
Volume
737
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Electroquímica
Subjects
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85087389268
PubMed ID
Source
Science of the Total Environment
ISSN of the container
00489697
Sponsor(s)
This work was partially funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) through the Nanotechnology-Enabled Water Treatment Nanosystems Engineering Research Center under project EEC-1449500 and the NSF Water and Environmental Technology Center at ASU (award number 1361815 ). We acknowledge the use of facilities within the Eyring Materials Center at Arizona State University supported in part by the National Science Foundation (NNCI-ECCS-1542160). We thank Dr. Ariel Atkinson and Krishishvar Venkatesh for collecting the natural water samples for the experiment and for providing characterization data. A.C.B. also acknowledges the support of the Dean's Fellowship from the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, a Scholar Award given by the International Chapter of the P.E.O. Sisterhood, and the Achievement Rewards for College Scientists Foundation award.
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción Científica
Scopus