Faculty Publications
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Item Fabrication of TiO2@ZIF-67 metal organic framework composite incorporated PVDF membranes for the removal of hazardous reactive black 5 and Congo red dyes from contaminated water(Elsevier B.V., 2024) Prabhakar, N.; Isloor, A.M.; Padaki, M.; Fauzi Ismail, A.Novel application of TiO2@ZIF-67 composite incorporated poly (vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) mixed matrix flat-sheet membranes for treating the water contaminated with hazardous reactive black 5 and congored dyes was the crux of this work. The composite was characterized by FTIR, BET, XRD, zeta potential and particle size, and TGA. The as-synthesized composite was embedded in the PVDF polymeric matrix and flat-sheet-membranes were fabricated adopting the NIPS method followed by the different characterizations like scanning electron microscopy, EDS, elemental mapping, contact angle, atomic force microscopy, surface energy, and XPS. Results of the performance studies showed an enhanced pure water permeability from 150.99 Lm-2h?1 for neat membrane to 261.39 Lm-2h?1 for TZM-2. The reactive black 5 dye was rejected in 97.4 %, 92.2 %, and 84.84 % in acidic, basic and neutral conditions respectively by TZM-2 membrane. Whereas, the PVDF membranes without the composite showed rejections of 83.19 %, 82.5 %, and 72.1 % respectively in acidic, basic, and neutral conditions. The Congo Red dye was rejected in 89.4 %, 95.68 %, and 92.4 % in acidic, neutral and basic conditions respectively by TZM-2 membranes. Whereas, the PVDF membranes without the composite showed rejections of 82.8 %, 91.9 %, and 85.4 % respectively in acidic, neutral and basic conditions. © 2024Item Effect of peptide hydrophilicity on membrane curvature and permeation(American Institute of Physics, 2024) Mathath, A.V.; Chakraborty, D.Using a well-developed reaction coordinate in umbrella sampling, we studied the single peptide permeation through a model cancerous cell membrane, varying the hydrophilicity and the charge of the peptides. Two peptides, melittin and pHD108, were studied. The permeation mechanism differs from a barrel-stave-like mechanism to toroidal pore and vesicle formation based on the number and the placement of the hydrophilic amino acids in the peptide. Membrane curvature changes dynamically as the permeation process occurs. In the case of vesicles, the peptide traverses along a smooth, homogenous pathway, whereas a rugged, steep pathway was found when lipid molecules did not line up along the wall of the membrane (barrel-stave-like mechanism). A mechanism similar to a toroidal pore consists of multiple minima. Higher free energy was found for the permeating terminal containing charged amino acid residues. Vesicle formation was found for pHD108 peptide N-terminal with a maximum membrane thinning effect of 54.4% with free energy cost of 8.20 ± 0.10 kcal mol?1 and pore radius of 2.33 ± 0.07 nm. Insights gained from this study can help to build synthetic peptides for drug delivery. © 2024 Author(s).Item Evaluating the PEM fuel cell performance under accelerated creep of sealants(Elsevier Ltd, 2025) Kumar, V.; Koorata, P.K.The physical properties of sealants could be crucial in affecting the performance and longevity of the polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). As the sealants' physical properties are temperature and stress-dependent due to their inherent viscoelasticity, their creep response must be explored. The numerical study presented in this article emphasizes evaluating the performance of low-temperature PEMFC (LT-PEMFC) influenced by polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) sealants' accelerated creep characterized by the compliance curves (MC-65). The performance of a 3D single-channel PEMFC model is investigated and compared for two cases, wherein the first case focused on PEMFC performance without sealant creep, and the second case incorporated sealants' accelerated creep to assess PEMFC performance. The detailed observation of reactant transport characteristics demonstrates that there is a substantial decline in oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) at the cathode gas diffusion layer (GDL) and cathode catalyst layer (CL) in the case of sealants' accelerated creep. Further, liquid saturation at the cathode GDL is observed to increase significantly, leading to a reduction in the performance of the cell. It is further conveyed that the current density for case 1 (without creep) and case 2 (sealants' accelerated creep) are 1.309655 and 1.041806 Acm?2, respectively, at a cell voltage of 0.4 V. The present study, therefore, addresses the viable interaction between fuel cell performance and the sealants’ accelerated creep characteristics. © 2025 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLCItem Effective removal of hazardous atrazine and chlorpyrifos by waste PET bottles-derived linker having novel MIL-53(Al)/PMMA-nanofiber incorporated poly(vinylidene) fluoride membranes(Elsevier Ltd, 2025) Prabhakar, N.; Isloor, A.M.; Farnood, R.Synthesis of novel MIL-53(Al)/PMMA nanofiber and its incorporation into PVDF thin-film composite flat-sheet membranes for the rejection of hazardous herbicides and pesticides from water is the crux of this work. Initially, poly (methyl methacrylate) polymer dope solution with MIL-53(Al) dispersed in the matrix was subjected to electrospinning to get a novel nanofiber. The linker terephthalic acid, here was derived from waste PET bottles. Both the MOF and nanofibers were characterized using BET, FTIR, zeta potential, and XRD. The optimized nanofibers were used as additives in the TFC in different weight percentages using synthesized porous PVDF as support. TFC Membranes were analyzed by pure water flux, chlorpyrifos, and atrazine rejection. MPM-2 with 0.05 wt% nanofiber gave a pure water flux of 18.6824 Lm?2h?1. The rejection of chlorpyrifos (a hazardous pesticide) was 86.8 % for MPM-2 membranes and atrazine (a herbicide) gave rejection of 60.48 %. Further, membranes gave excellent antifouling property with FRR of 95.45 %. © 2025 Elsevier LtdItem High performance 2D molybdenum MXene polyphenylsulfone membranes for boosting water flux and efficient removal of humic acid, antibiotic and dyes from wastewater(Elsevier B.V., 2025) Satishkumar, P.; Isloor, A.M.; Farnood, R.MXene, a leading two-dimensional material, is attracting scientists due to its rich polar surface termination and compatibility. Through the etching of an aluminum layer from Mo3AlC2, we have effectively produced molybdenum MXene Mo3C2Tx (where T stands for polar moieties like –OH and ?F) and used it to fabricate a new Mo3C2Tx embedded mixed matrix membrane. By the incorporation of highly hydrophilic Mo3C2Tx MXene into polyphenylsulfone (PPSU) membrane, its water flux tremendously increased to a peak value of 290 L m-2h?1 and is higher than 300 % compared to pristine polyphenylsulfone membrane without Mo3C2Tx MXene. Water contact angle study of Mo3C2Tx MXene embedded membranes showed improvement in hydrophilicity with an increase in its loading. Mo3C2Tx-PPSU membrane demonstrated appreciable antifouling nature and pollutant separation efficacy. The optimal membrane revealed 98.68 %, 96.7 %, 84.72 %, and 80.2 % removal of toxic contaminants like humic acid, RB 5 dye, RO 16 dye, and tetracycline antibiotic, respectively. This study offers a novel Mo3C2Tx embedded polyphenylsulfone membrane for wastewater treatment that eliminates potentially harmful humic acid, antibiotics, and dyes. © 2025Item Fabrication and incorporation of MIL-53(Fe)-zwitterionic brushes into PVDF thin film composite membranes for enhancing heavy metal/dye rejection from aqueous body(Elsevier B.V., 2025) Prabhakar, N.; Isloor, A.M.; Farnood, R.; Fauzi Ismail, A.The bioaccumulation of heavy metal ions is a serious concern for researchers. The dyes and heavy metal ions also aquatic life impacting the biodiversity adversely. Synthesis of novel MIL-53(Fe)-PSBMA particles, and its incorporation into PVDF-based thin-film composite membranes is the crux of this work. Firstly, H2N-MIL-53(Fe) was synthesized by metal displacement reaction which was then modified into MIL-53(Fe)-PSBMA brushes. The brushes were synthesized by atom transfer radical polymerization method. The amine groups of the NH2-MIL-53(Fe) help connecting the MOF to the polymeric moiety. The as-synthesized material and the fabricated TFCs were characterized by BET, FTIR, XRD, XPS, TGA, AFM, FE-SEM, zeta potential, and DLS particle sizer. The presence of sulphur groups on the XPS spectrum of modified MOF ensured the successful polymer grafting on it. Zwitterionic moieties have both positive and negative charges within a single molecule which gave a resultant zeta potential of ?13.1 mV for the brushes. A pure water flux of 26.32 Lm?2 h?1 and 97.33 %, 95.19 %, 82.06 %, and 78.47 % rejections for Pb2+, Hg2+, As3+, Cd2+ ions and 96.23 % and 94.04 % rejection for 100 ppm reactive black-5 and sunset yellow dyes respectively were obtained for the optimized membrane having 0.035 wt% loading of zwitterionic MOF. This result was attributed to the enhanced membrane hydrophilicity which was also correlated with contact angle and water uptake studies. © 2024 Elsevier B.V.Item A chicken egg white-based amyloid–graphitic carbon nitride composite-incorporated hollow fiber membrane for efficient removal of dyes and heavy metal ions present in water(Royal Society of Chemistry, 2025) Nayak, S.S.; Isloor, A.M.; A.F., A.F.Severe water pollution due to excessive industrialization is resulting in a pure water crisis for humans and other living beings. This growing crisis emphasizes the urgent need for advanced and efficient water purification technologies to mitigate pollution and ensure the availability of pure water. To address this issue, the current study focuses on the synthesis of a chicken egg white amyloid–graphitic carbon nitride composite (AM–CN) using graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) and egg whites through environment friendly and simple techniques. These composites were further characterized using different analytical techniques such as BET, FTIR, XRD, SEM, and TEM to understand the structure of the composite. Furthermore, these composites were embedded into hollow fiber membranes, and later, these membranes were analyzed through AFM, SEM, and hydrophilicity studies to understand the character and structure of the membrane. The filtration performance of the membrane revealed that the membrane with the AM–CN composite demonstrated enhanced performance in both pure water permeability and pollutant removal capacity. Among the fabricated membranes, the neat membrane exhibited a pure water permeability of 81 L m?2 h?1 bar?1. In contrast, the highest permeability of 203 L m?2 h?1 bar?1 was exhibited by the M II membrane, therefore considering it as an optimized membrane. This optimized membrane also displayed the highest pollutant removal capacity of >99% for Congo red dye, >98% for Reactive black 5 and 88% for Reactive orange 16 dye. In the case of heavy metal ion removal, the same membrane displayed an impressive 99% removal of lead ions and 75% removal of mercury ions in the presence of humic acid. © 2025 The Royal Society of Chemistry.Item Effective separation of agrochemicals and textile dyes from polluted aqueous solution employing ternary ZnCoFe layered double hydroxide incorporated polyethersulfone hollow fiber ultrafiltration membrane(Elsevier B.V., 2025) Pallot, H.; Isloor, A.M.; A.F., A.F.The rapid urbanization and industrialization has increased the contamination of water bodies with agrochemical residues and textile dyes, which poses a severe threat to environmental and human health, necessitating the need of an efficient water purification strategies. Membrane-based filtration techniques has grown significantly due to the demand for sustainable and effective water treatment. For the first time, ternary ZnCoFe layered double hydroxides (LDH) modified polyethersulfone hollow fiber ultrafiltration membrane was developed for enhancing hydrophilicity and separation efficiency of dyes and agrochemicals. The widespread use and long-term persistence in the water bodies of Reactive Orange 16, Crystal Violet, chlorpyrifos and 2,4-dichlorophenoxy acetic acid (2,4-D) highlight the critical need for the effective removal of these pollutants. ZnCoFe LDH was developed by the co-precipitation method with a 2:2:1 M ratio of nitrates of Zn, Co, and Fe transition metals. The membranes were fabricated with different composition of LDH. The influence of LDH in the membranes was assessed through FESEM, AFM, zeta potential, contact angle, water uptake capacity, porosity, water permeability, and molecular weight cut-off. The incorporation of ZnCoFe-LDH into the PES membrane resulted in an improved pure water flux, rising from 91.03 Lm?2 h?1 for the pristine (MLZ-0) membrane to 143.25 Lm?2 h?1 for the optimized (MLZ-2). The optimized membrane exhibits a good antifouling property with flux recovery ratio improved from 52.13 to 64.18%. The rejection of Reactive Orange 16 and Crystal Violet was found to be 74.9% and 79.8% for MLZ-0 whereas for MLZ-2 the values were 83.2% and 99.1% respectively. MLZ-2 also exhibited 47.1% and 90.9% for 2,4-D and chlorpyrifos rejection respectively while pristine membrane showed 22.7% and 78.8%. © 2025 Elsevier B.V.