GCSP research stipend | Spring 2024

Functionalized PDMS for Membrane Separations of VOCs from Water

This project seeks to examine the effect of different levels of functionalization and different degrees of crosslinking of a polydimethylsiloxane-based (PDMS) membrane on the efficacy of the membrane in removing contaminants from water. The separation method being studied in this project is pervaporation, and the efficacy of the membranes will be gauged by permeance, flux, and selectivity when removing organic contaminants from water. The intended impact of this research is to expand on existing research into pervaporation as a separations method, as well as examine the application of PDMS-based membranes for use in water treatment, with consideration on scalability into industry.