Featured Work
Designing polymeric membranes with coordination chemistry for high-precision ion separations
Highly selective separation processes are needed to meet the growing demand for clean energy and purified water. We show that tailoring interactions between a target ion and polymer can lead to highly precise ion separations for ultrathin membranes.
Prospects of metal recovery from wastewater and brine
DuChanois, R.M., Cooper, N.J., Lee, B., Patel, S.K., Mazurowski, L., Graedel, T.E., Elimelech, M. Nature Water. 2022. 1, 37-46.
Harvesting metals contained in various water sources could augment supplies of metals needed for critical technologies such as electronics, electric vehicles, and solar cells. We provide our perspective on (i) what metals should be prioritized for recovery, (ii) the water sources those metals should be recovered from, and (iii) the most promising technologies for large-scale metal recovery.
DuChanois, R.M., Mazurowski, L., Fan, H., Verduzco, R., Nir, O., Elimelech, M. Environmental Science & Technology. 2023.
Cation-exchange membranes modified with thin selective layers typically exhibit modest selectivity between similar cations. This study identifies conditions in which cation-exchange membranes need lower mass transfer resistance to obtain precise separations as composite membranes.
Membrane Materials for Selective Ion Separations at the Water-Energy Nexus
Many applications at the water-energy nexus require ion selectivity, or separation of specific ionic species from other similar species. Herein, we present progress toward developing membrane materials specifically for highly precise ion separations.
publication list
2023
DuChanois, R.M., Mazurowski, L., Fan, H., Verduzco, R., Nir, O., Elimelech, M. Environmental Science & Technology. 2023. DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.3c00445
DuChanois, R.M., Cooper, N.J., Lee, B., Patel, S.K., Mazurowski, L., Graedel, T.E., Elimelech, M. “Prospects of Metal Recovery from Wastewater and Brine,” Nature Water. 2023. 1, 37–46. DOI: 10.1038/s44221-022-00006-z
2022
Nnorom, N.C., Rogers, T., Jain, A., Alazmi, A., Curi Elias, W., DuChanois, R.M., Flores, K.R., Gardea-Torresdey, J.L., Cokar, M., Elimelech, M., Wong, M.S., Verduzco, R. “Sulfonated Polymer Coating Enhances Selective Removal of Calcium in Membrane Capacitive Deionization,” 2022. Journal of Membrane Science. 662, 120974. DOI: 10.1016/j.memsci.2022.120974.
Heiranian, M., DuChanois, R.M., Ritt, C.L., Violet, C., Elimelech, M. “Molecular Simulations to Elucidate Transport Phenomena in Polymeric Membranes,” Environmental Science & Technology. 56 (6), 3313–3323. DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.2c00440.
DuChanois, R.M., Heiranian, M., Yang, J., Porter, C.J., Li, Q., Zhang, X., Verduzco, R., Elimelech, M. “Designing polymeric membranes with coordination chemistry for high-precision ion separations,” Science Advances. 8, eabm9436. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abm9436.
2021
Porter, C.J., DuChanois, R.M., MacDonald, E., Kilpatrick, S.M., Zhong, M., Elimelech, M. “Tethered electrolyte active-layer membranes,” Journal of Membrane Science. 642, 120004. DOI: 10.1016/j.memsci.2021.120004.
Ritt, C.L., Stassin, T., Davenport, D.M., DuChanois, R.M., Nulens, I., Yang, Z., Segev-Mark, N., Ben-Zvi, A., Elimelech, M., Tang, C.Y., Ramon, G.Z., Vankelecom, I.F.J., Verbeke, R. “The open membrane database: synthesis–structure–performance relationships of reverse osmosis membranes,” Journal of Membrane Science. 641, 119927. DOI: 10.1016/j.memsci.2021.119927.
Zuo, K., Wang, K., DuChanois, R.M., Fang, Q., Deemer, E.V., Huang, X., Abdallah, I., Xin, R., Walker, W.S., Lou, J., Elimelech, M., Huang, X., Li, Q. “Selective membranes in water and wastewater treatment: Role of advanced materials,” Materials Today. 50, 516-532. DOI: 10.1016/j.mattod.2021.06.013.
DuChanois, R.M., Porter, C.J., Violet, C., Verduzco, R., Elimelech, M. “Membrane Materials for Selective Ion Separations at the Water-Energy Nexus,” Advanced Materials. 33, 2101312. DOI: 10.1002/adma.202101312.
Yao, Y., Zhang, P., Jiang, C., DuChanois, R.M., Zhang, X., Elimelech, M. “High performance polyester reverse osmosis desalination membrane with chlorine resistance,” Nature Sustainability. 2021. 4, 138–146. DOI: 10.1038/s41893-020-00619-w.
2020
Wang, L., Violet, C., DuChanois, R.M., Elimelech, M. “Derivation of the Theoretical Minimum Energy of Separation of Desalination Processes,” Journal of Chemical Education. 97 (12), 4361–4369. DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.0c01194.
Epsztein, R., DuChanois, R.M., Ritt, C.L., Noy, A., Elimelech, M. “Towards single-species selectivity of membranes with sub-nanometre pores,” Nature Nanotechnology. 2020. 15, 426–436. DOI: 10.1038/s41565-020-0713-6.
Featured in Jerusalem Post and Yale News
Sigurðardóttir, S.B., DuChanois, R.M., Epsztein, R., Pinelo, M., Elimelech, M. “Energy barriers to anion transport in nanofiltration membranes: Role of intra-pore diffusion,” Journal of Membrane Science. 2020. 603, 117921. DOI: 10.1016/j.memsci.2020.117921.
2019
Bollman, M., DeSantis, G., DuChanois, R.M., Etten-Bohm, M., Olszyk, D., Lambrinos, J., Mayer, P. “Optimizing hydrologic performance of green roof media,” Ecological Engineering. 2019. 140, 105589. DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoleng.2019.105589.
DuChanois, R.M., Liddle, L., Fenner, R., Jeuland, M., Evans, B., Cumming, O., Zaman, R. U., Mujica-Pereira, A.V., Ross, I., Gribble, M.O., Brown, J. “Factors Associated with Continuous Water Services for the Rural Populations of Bangladesh, Pakistan, Ethiopia, and Mozambique,” Environmental Science & Technology. 2019, 53 (8), 4355–4363. DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.8b07173.
DuChanois, R.M., Epsztein, R., Trivedi, J.A., Elimelech, M., “Controlling pore structure of polyelectrolyte multilayer nanofiltration membranes by tuning polyelectrolyte–salt interactions,” Journal of Membrane Science. 2019, 581, 413–420. DOI: 1016/j.memsci.2019.03.077.
Liu, J., Cheng, S., Cao, N., Geng, C., He, C., Shi, Q., Xu, C., Ni, J., DuChanois, R.M., Elimelech, M., Zhao, H. “Actinia-like multifunctional nanocoagulant for single-step removal of water contaminants,” Nature Nanotechnology. 2019, 14 (1), 64–71. DOI: 10.1038/s41565-018-0307-8.
Featured in Chemical & Engineering News, Science Daily, Physics World, BBC World Service Radio, National Geographic