Daniel Gomez Cazares, “Nanoporous Adsorbents Based on Zeolitic Imidazolate Frameworks for the Removal of Heavy Metals”
Mentors: Xiaoli Ma & Junwei Wang, Materials Science & Engineering
There are growing concerns regarding the water pollution caused by the toxic heavy metal contaminants such as lead. Currently, adsorption-based physical separation process is the most practical and economic approach to remove heavy metals from water. However, the conventional adsorbents such as activated carbons are shown to have low effectiveness towards heavy metals; and this challenge has motivated the development of new materials with improved sorption efficiency. This presentation will discuss the synthesis, structure and adsorption properties of new adsorbents based on ZIF-8, a type of metal-organic framework nanoporous materials. ZIF-8 powders with two different crystal sizes were synthesized by a solvothermal method. Their phase structure and morphology were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM), respectively. In batch adsorption experiments, these ZIF-8 adsorbents showed excellent removal efficiency towards lead ions. The effect of crystal size on the lead adsorption properties will also be discussed in this presentation. Our findings have demonstrated the great potential of ZIF-8 as an effective adsorbent for the capture of heavy metals from water.
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Very well written and understandable for a scientist unfamiliar with the research.
The goals and context were clear.
It is obvious how the research relates to real world problems.
The methods included detail, but were outside of the reviewers experience. In that context, seemed well explained.
The study interpretations seemed appropriate, clear, were scientifically cautious, but highlighted the importance of the findings.
Well done! Award level presentation!
Very good work, Daniel.
Your poster is cleanly designed and easy to follow (and this is from a non-engineer). That’s the key to explaining science — make it accessible!
I also appreciate that you included a proper bibliography (and this is from a librarian).
You should be proud of yourself!