Research Projects

The newly designed and developed approach for eliminating water pollutants, such as micro/nano-plastics and pathogenic bacteria, involves the use of magneto microrobots comprised of biodegradable polymer based anisotropic cup particles decorated with polymer brushes. The anisotropic cup-shaped particles will exhibit distinctive magnetic characteristics and an interesting core-shell morphology, having a polyamines core and polymer brush shells. These anisotropic magneto cup swarms are expected to possess the ability to capture both dangerous bacteria and micro/nano-plastics from contaminated water. Moreover, employment of sustainable and biodegradable polymeric materials for the fabrication of these particles eliminates the issues associated with non-degradable plastic waste management. This proposal involves the fabrication of innovative anisotropic cup-shaped magneto-robot swarms utilizing electrohydrodynamic co-jetting (EHCJ) of biodegradable polymers for the predominant confinement of micro/nano-plastics in the core, and bacteria in the shell which will be modified with ionic polymer brush using surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP). Moreover, the composite particles are assumed to reuse for multiple times by applying magnetic fields for their easy collection. The proposed magnetic cup-shaped particles are anticipated to offer distinctive advantages as compared to traditional methods, including biodegradability, cost-effectiveness, reusability, recyclability, and environmental sustainability.