Clean Water: 3D Printing High Performance Membranes

$47
Raised of $5,550 Goal
1%
Ended on 8/01/16
Campaign Ended
  • $47
    pledged
  • 1%
    funded
  • Finished
    on 8/01/16

About This Project

We use 3D printing to fabricate new polymer membranes for high-throughput water treatment applications. Our preliminary data indicates that structuring membrane surfaces increases their water treatment rates by lowering the resistance of the membrane. We are seeking funds to purchase a new high-resolution light projector in our lab that will enable students to create new, high-resolution surface patterns to develop next-generation membranes for water purification.

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What is the context of this research?

Polymer membranes are the #1 technology for purifying water. Facilities that can produce 50 million gallons of drinking water a day are used to purify ocean water for human consumption. However, these large-scale water-treatment operations are reaching a plateau in their efficiency. We are exploring new polymers and new membrane designs that overcome current challenges in the field. Our main idea in this project is to drastically increase the surface area, and design the surface structuring of new water treatment membranes using 3D printing. We want to impact how materials are designed for water purification, but these concepts may also be applicable to technologies such as fuel cells and batteries.

What is the significance of this project?

This work is critical because water treatment is a major societal need. We think about rising energy prices, but what would happen if our water bills tripled or grew by 10X? What if water was as expensive as gasoline? We can live for a long time without energy, but we cannot live for more than a few days without clean water. Our polymers are designed to lower the energy demands of water purification. Further modification of the membranes through 3D printing will enable a new era of membrane design for this important area.

What are the goals of the project?

We have recently demonstrated the fundamental principle of 3D printing water treatment membranes in the peer-reviewed publication: Seo, Kushner, and Hickner, “3D Printing of Micro-patterned Anion Exchange Membranes, ” ACS Appl. Mater. Int. 2016, DOI: 10.1021/acsami.6b03455 . This article showed that the resistance of membranes can be lowered by a factor of 2 or 3 by fabricating samples with a surface pattern. However, we were limited to low-resolution patterns in this work. Our hypothesis is that higher-resolution patterns will improve the flow in the membranes and give us access to new structures. With this new 4K projector, we will create higher-resolution and feature-dense patterns to further improve on our initial concept.

More press can be found at: goo.gl/GgWhA2

Budget

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We need a high-resolution, high-power 4K projector for creating higher-resolution profiled membranes than we can currently fabricate. Currently, we are limited in x-y resolution to 200 microns or so with a standard VGA projector. We need a new light source with a higher pixel density to boost the resolution of the features on our membranes and increase the feature density on the profiled surfaces. We do not currently have any 4K projectors in our building and this would break new ground in high-resolution 3D printing for membranes and beyond.

This type of projector is the first step in building a new 3D printer for high-resolution patterned membranes. While we are focused on water treatment, this work will also foster new developments in 3D printing to develop functional resins for water treatment and energy technology applications.

Meet the Team

Michael Hickner
Michael Hickner
Robert Kaminsky
Robert Kaminsky
Ziyi Miao
Ziyi Miao
Clara Capparelli
Clara Capparelli
Jiho Seo
Jiho Seo

Team Bio

Our group tackles problems in clean water and green energy technologies. We use the tools of chemistry and polymer science to address problems that matter to society and break new scientific ground. Our science and engineering approach aims to push technology forward while uncovering the scientific principles that govern materials behavior.

Michael Hickner

I am an Associate Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and Chemical Engineering at The Pennsylvania State University. I'm interested in polymers, energy, water, and the cool stuff that materials can do.

My research group performs government and industry-sponsored research in polymer membranes, polymer synthesis, and the properties of polymeric materials and thin films. We educate students and produce professionals that bring new ideas to industry, government labs, and academia.

We are starting new efforts in 3D printing to push our research objectives into this new processing method and to involve students and researchers at all levels with different skill sets. 3D printing is the future and we want to be there.

Between work and chasing my kids around the neighborhood with my wife, I spend my spare time dreaming about skiing and sailing - anything to do with water.

Robert Kaminsky

Rob

Ziyi Miao

Kent

Clara Capparelli

Clara

Lab Notes

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Project Backers

  • 3Backers
  • 1%Funded
  • $47Total Donations
  • $15.67Average Donation
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