Bioinspired Membranes for Water Purification

Polluted water is a complex global socioeconomic issue that affects human and animal health, and greatly impacts industries such as agriculture and fishing, recreational activities and transportation. The World Health Organisation (WHO) recently estimated that contaminated water is responsible for almost 500 million deaths per year. In a wide range of applications across sectors, current filtration technologies are ineffective, relying on the specific physicochemical properties of the membrane and the target molecule(s) to be removed, and their manufacture often requires complex and expensive multi-step processes with high associated energy costs.

In this project, we will develop bioinspired membranes as new solutions for water purification technologies, selectively removing contaminants with minimal energy input requirements. Utilising advanced polymer synthesis strategies, we will develop new bespoke polymers that can extract transmembrane proteins capable of moving molecules across membrane with exquisite specificity and enable their subsequent incorporation into biomimetic artificial membranes. This will afford water purification membranes with previously unrivalled molecular selectivity and specificity.

The new membrane technology developed in this project will help to advance and evolve the landscape of membrane science. The platform materials and approaches devised will be transferrable to additional membrane filtration and water purification applications and will enable universal manufacturing processes to afford high-performance reusable, recyclable devices that can contribute to a circular economy. The need for such new systems is recognised by the UN with Sustainable Development Goal 6 on clean water and sanitation.