Keynote Abstract:
Nature-inspired fog harvesting is a promising technology aimed at acquiring freshwater from the atmosphere. However, the design of nature-inspired surfaces with unique characteristics for the specific application provides a paradigm shift in the development of the new engineering surfaces. An efficient fog collecting nanofibers was designed inspired by the fog harvesting capability of Stenocara beetles in the Namib Desert. Several available polymers such as polyacrylonitrile (PAN), poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), recycled expanded polystyrene (EPS) foam with various proportions of titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles and aluminum (Al) microparticles were spun into superhydrophobic-hydrophilic nanocomposites fibers using the facile electrospinning technique. The fiber morphology, wetting characteristics, and fog-harvesting capacity of the nanocomposite was investigated. The as-prepared PAN/PMMA and EPS nanocomposites having 10% inclusion of combined micro- and nanoparticles exhibit superhydrophobic characteristics i.e. a water contact angle of 154.8° and 152.03° respectively. The experimental tests of PAN/PMMA and EPS nanocomposites reveal the daily freshwater productivity of more than 1.49 liter/m2 and 1.35 liter/m2 of nanocomposites. The materials cost of making such nanocomposites to supply minimum daily water consumption for a household with 2 members (i.e., 6 liters) is only US$2.67 (EPS nanocomposite) and US$4.97 (PAN/PMMA nanocomposite). These nanocomposites harvest fog water without any additional energy input and large infrastructure thus, it’s cheap and affordable. This technology offers a novel tool for the mass production of fresh water in arid areas.
Biography :
Dr. Muhammad Mustafizur Rahman earned BS in Mechanical Engineering from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, MS from University of Manitoba, and PhD from University of California, Berkeley. He is working at Wichita State University since August 2014 as Bloomfield Endowed Chair in Engineering. He served as the Chair of the Mechanical Engineering Department for 5 years and now the Dean’s Fellow for New Strategic Initiatives. Before coming to Wichita State University, he was a faculty member in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of South Florida (USF) for 21 years. His research has been funded by NASA, US Department of Energy, US Department of Defense, and several companies in USA and Europe. He received 2 U.S. patents, and published 99 journal papers, 3 book chapters, and 155 articles in peer-reviewed conference proceedings. These papers have been cited in nearly 5000 research articles. Dr. Rahman has served as the Chair of the Advanced Energy Systems Division, Technical Program Chair of the Energy Sustainability Conference, and the Chair of the Strategic Planning Committee of the Technical Communities Operating Board in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). He has also served as an Associate Technical Editor for the Journal of Solar Energy Engineering (1998-2004) and for the Journal of Energy Resources Technology (2007-2013). He was also a member of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Energy Research (2007 – 2009). Dr. Rahman received the USF Outstanding Teaching Award in 1997, ASME Advanced Energy System Division Best Paper Award in 1999 and 2007, and SAE (Society for Automotive Engineers) Teeter Educational Award in 1999. He also got selected as the ASME Florida West Coast Engineer of the Year in 2004. He is an ASME Fellow since 2007 and received ASME Dedicated Service Award in 2011. He is a Mechanical Engineering program evaluator in the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET (Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology) and a Peer Corps Member of the Higher Learning Commission for regional accreditation of educational institutions.