Well, after successfully hardening the clay into ceramic, we began testing the pieces (a regular clay for control, and a TiO2 coated piece) using methyl blue. We had a surprising reaction because the TiO2 absorbed some methyl blue, which didn’t bleach as we exposed it to UV light. The methyl blue solution did degrade some for both the control and the coated piece. However, there were still trace amounts of methyl blue for both samples after 6 hours. I got to use a UV photospectrometer to analyze the samples, which was pretty awesome.

We tested Saturday to get data, and we started another reaction today. Hopefully, we’ll get better results!

Finally, after abandoning the cellulose and sticking to just clay, I’ve been able to produce our filter prototype. I created a press to make the holes (with varying success), and I’m hoping they’ll yield some good results.

Not much else to update on for this short week. We’re coating the clay in the titanium dioxide and testing this week with methyl orange to see how fast it degrades in UV light.

We visited the desalination plant on Wednesday. Although I’ve been there before multiple times, I still  learned something new! I didn’t know that street names in downtown El Paso were named after paths travelers took to specific towns and cities (San Antonio, San Francisco, etc.).

While the ceramic project is on the back burner, I worked with my mentor on another project assigned by my PI. We used silver nitrate and sodium chloride to see what the minimum amount of molecules put together would be visible by the naked eye.

We made solutions for both using DI water and using decreasing amounts of particles (diluting it by reducing the amount of sodium chloride and silver nitrate by putting them in 9 mL of DI water).

There was a lot of math involved (calculating Molarity of each) and we’ll be looking at our results today!

So, I’ve hit a bit of a speed bump with my research so far. My PI wants me to use cellulose to form the ceramic pipes for our device. The problem I’ve encountered is that the cellulose is burning and making the whole structure very brittle. I’ve been drying the clay more and using multiple layers, which is yielding better results. However, I’ve yet to  produce a good sample that includes the cellulose. I did make a complete clay pipe to produce a visual of what our sample is supposed to look like.

My mentor wants to take my project in another direction. He thinks focusing on removing the metal content in water would be more feasible in this six weeks as opposed to the anti-microbial approach. I’ve been reading about magnetite and chitosan so that we can talk to Dr. Noveron about shifting the project’s direction.

The following pictures show a meeting, some samples, and a happy accident trying to evaporate some water in the clay using a vacuum oven.

This week has been very informative and great learning experience for me! Since this is the first time I’ve had to do lab research, I spent a majority of it learning the tools, machines, equipment, safety procedures, and so on. My lab team is extremely friendly and helpful, which makes me excited to come to work every day. That’s already a great sign!

I was assigned my own project instead of working on the hypothesis I was initially assigned. My assigned project is to create a water treatment device to decompose soap and sanitize water. Gray/used water (such as from the shower, since 80% of potable water waste happens here) would enter the device and filter into clay tubes coated with Titanium Oxide nanoparticles to decompose the soap. Then, UV rays (from the sun or an LED light) would bleach the water. This would kill bacteria, viruses, and other microorganisms. Once both of these processes are complete, the water would be ready for reuse.

I’ve been researching photocatalysts, Titanium Oxide nanoparticles, and clay to understand the chemistry behind my project. It’s a bit overwhelming for me, but I feel as though I’ll learn so much from this!

This is only a test. Thank you for reading.