Motivation

The issue of water pollution had reached critical levels in the urban areas. Conventional end-of-pipe treatment methods are struggling to cope with the sheer volume of urban discharges and waste. The organic micropollutants (OMPs), including pharmaceuticals, plasticizers, pesticides, flame retardants, and surfactants endanger both the environment and human health.

To compound the problem, the world was facing a new environmental crisis: microplastics. These tiny particles and their associated additives were flooding into the environment through wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluents, contaminating surface waters and creating a new set of challenges.

The current state of water quality largely depended on conventional WWTP treatments, which struggled to eliminate recalcitrant pollutants efficiently. These treatments were not only expensive to operate but also ineffective at times.

However, a ray of hope emerged in the form of ceramic membranes. These innovative technologies promised faster, cheaper, and more efficient water treatment. Unlike their polymeric counterparts, ceramic membranes possessed exceptional qualities—mechanical strength, resistance to various factors, and the ability to operate under different conditions.

Currently, there is no single-step technology available to efficiently retain and eliminate contaminants from water sources. Nanotechnology, however, holds promise by ushering in innovative structures, including smart materials and metamaterials. Over the last decade, we have dedicated our efforts to develop versatile nanostructures for photonics, energy, and sensing applications. One critical limitation in existing pollution control technologies is their inability to provide real-time measurements. While sensors exist for monitoring parameters like flow, temperature, pH, conductivity, and redox potential  already exist on the markets. Recently, the first sensors for metal and organic contaminants using electrical Impedance spectroscopy analysis (EIS) have been proposed as real-time devices as early warning systems for contamination. However, real-time measurement technologies to evaluate OMP and MP based on impedance spectroscopy has not been developed or implemented at a real scale for pollution assessment and control and this is what motivated us to develop our proposal’s targets.