Sangeeta Tiwari

Title : Functional nano fibrous mats for removal of toxic contaminants from water

Abstract:

Polymer Nanofibers (NFs) produced by electrospinning technique, are an appealing alternative to traditional water treatment methods because of their unique properties such as high porosity, high gas permeability, small pore size and large surface area to volume ratio, resulting in rapid adsorption with high adsorption capacity when compared to powder materials. Electrospinning (ES) is unusual in that it may create nanofibers from a variety of materials in a variety of fibrous assemblies. ES is appealing to both academia and industry because of its relatively high production rate, low cost and ease of the setup.
Some significant work, done by our group, on preparation of various composite nanofibrous mats for removal of As (III) from wastewaters, has been reported here.  Poly-vinyl alcohol (PVA)/ (CHT) chitosan NFs were prepared and modified with Cerium for the removal of As (III). More than 80%  removal of As (III) was achieved within the first 10 minutes, with adsorption capacity of 18.0 mg/g. The purification was achieved below the prescribed limit of WHO/USEPA up to 1000 ppb. Being biodegradable and nontoxic, PVA/CHT/Ce NFs does not affect the quality of water and work  at near neutral pH range (6-7).
Similarly, work was carried out on preparation of PAN/TiO2 NFs modified with nano zero valent iron (nZVI) for removal of As (III). The fibers were found to have better strength and water absorption characteristics than PVA/CHT NFs. It could be observed that the fabricated CNFs (nZVI@PAN/TiO₂) purify water within the permissible limits, prescribed by WHO/EPA from initial concentration (1000 μg/L) of As (III). Furthermore, the composite nanofibers are capable of eliminating As (III) at extremely low concentrations (less than 100ppb). The maximum adsorption capacity of nZVI@PAN/TiO₂ composite nanofibers with 10 mg/L As (III) solution is 12.18 mg/g. The nanofibrous mats are a good alternative to treat waste waters.

Audience take away: 

• The audience will learn about electrospinning technique for production of polymeric nanofibers.
• The audience will know and understand the significance of a very important category of functional materials, their synthesis and applications.
• The research work being presented will help other faculty to work on other important aspects of these materials.
• Removal of toxic metals is an important area as it is directly related to the environment.

Biography:

Dr. Sangeeta Tiwari is Professor in Chemistry at Amity Institute of Applied Sciences, Amity University Noida. She is actively associated in teaching, research and other important developmental activities at Amity University. She did her PhD from CSIR-Advanced Materials Processes and Research Institute (AMPRI), Bhopal, India, in the year 1999. During her early research career, she was awarded M.P. State Young Scientist as well as Indian Science Congress -Young Scientist Award. She had two granted patents with CSIR-AMPRI and research project from Building Materials Technology Promotion Council, New Delhi.

After Ph.D., she joined Amity University where she is a Professor in Chemistry at present and Head (Academic Co-ordination) AIAS. She has quite a good number of high impact research publications to her credit, produced Ph.Ds and has filed no of patents with Amity University, out of which two are granted. Her current area of research is functional materials for various applications like removal of toxic contaminants from water, carbon dioxide conversion and NIR reflective coatings. She has sponsored National and International collaborative projects.