Committee Chair

Bathi, Jejal; Palchoudhury, Soubantika,

Committee Member

Owino, Joseph; Fomunung, Ignatius; Onyango, Mbakisya; Wu, Weidong

Department

Dept. of Civil and Chemical Engineering

College

College of Engineering and Computer Science

Publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Place of Publication

Chattanooga (Tenn.)

Abstract

Nanoscale material release (Nanoparticle of < 100 nm) in surface waters is growing concerned worldwide. Understanding the fate of Engineered Nanoparticle (ENP) in the environment is essential for accurate assessment of their aquatic toxicity. It is estimated that there are more than 1800 consumers products found in the environment, containing Nanoparticles. Due to their ultrafine invisible nature, it is very difficult and highly technical to detect them in the aquatic environment. Due to the complexity of environmental samples and the limitation of available analytical techniques, the study of the fate of the Nanoparticles in real environmental samples is challenging. Often, the detection of ENPs in surface water requires the use of multiple technologies in tandem including ultrafiltration, centrifugation and ionization techniques to identify the nano elements. As part of this thesis research, a systematic review of the procedures and techniques that researchers are currently using for detection as well as characterization of the nano contaminants in surface waters are studied. Besides, synthetic samples with standard ENPs in distilled water are used to understand the dispersion fate behavior of ENPs under the controlled matrix of aquatic chemistry. The analysis of dispersion and aggregation was carried out using DLS (direct light scattering) as well as induced coupled plasma (ICP) -atomic emission spectroscopy (AES) at discrete time of sonication. Results clearly showed that the dispersion of the ENPs is very small but increased with time of sonication. Among the metallic analytes studied, Copper had better dispersion compared to the rest of the ENPs studied. In general, aggregation of the particles increased initially, but later after 3 hours of sonication, it started decreasing.

Acknowledgments

At the very beginning, I would like to show my gratitude to Almighty, the most merciful, kindest and generous, who has allowed me to research one of the emerging fields of nano contamination. I would like to enunciate my heartfelt and intense gratefulness to my supervisor Prof Dr. Jejal Reddy Bathi, PE and co-supervisor Dr. Soubantika Palchoudhury, Department of Civil and Chemical Engineering, UTC, whose generous guidance, attention and particularly unwavering encouragement always kept my bewildered thoughts in a right direction. The door to both Prof was always open, whenever I ran into a trouble spot or had a question about my research or writing. My sincere appreciation and gratitude to Dr. Joseph Owino, Dr. Ignatius Fomunung, Dr. Mbakisya Onyango and Dr. Weidong Wu for their time and indispensable recommendations, as committee members. I cannot but give special thanks to Babatunde Aliu Atolagbe, Shuvashish Roy, Priyanka Dey, Armel Boutchuen, Dell H Zimmerman, Stevan Sawyer, Patrick Craig for their selfless cooperation. The role of the Department of Civil and Chemical Engineering, under the leadership of Dr. Joseph Owino, is also greatly acknowledged. Pursuing graduate studies in a department with faculty and staff, like Ms. Karen Lomen dedicated to catering for the needs of the students could not be better than this. Finally, I would like to express my deep appreciation for the permanent inspiration and enthusiasm provided by my wife Dr. Shamima Yasmin, during the study.

Degree

M. S.; A thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Science.

Date

8-2020

Subject

Nanoparticles; Water -- Pollution; Zeta potential

Keyword

DLS; Hydrodynamic size; ICP AES; Nanomaterial; Nanoparticles; Zeta potential

Document Type

Masters theses

DCMI Type

Text

Extent

xv, 88 leaves.

Language

English

Rights

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Date Available

1-1-2021

Download

Share

COinS