• Cellulose is the most abundant natural biopolymer on the earth. Converting cellulose to nanoscale improves its properties like high aspect ratio, interesting mechanical properties and a promising polymer reinforcement.
• Nanocellulose is a lightweight material with strong mechanical strength, biodegradable and non-toxic natural polymer which has potential to be used as bio based adsorbent.

The project aims to produce membranes for water purification using facile and inexpensive nanocomposites. We successfully synthesized a few nanocomposites membrane using a facile protocol and simply accessible material like nanocellulose from hemp and graphene oxide as a major structural constituent and basic chemicals. These synthesized filters can sequester heavy metals from water through electrostatic attractions. The specificity and selectivity of these membranes are highly dependent on functionalities and pore sizes and can be controlled.

Project team: Arish naim, Dr. Mohammad Arjmand, Dr. Sepideh Pakpour, Dr. Abbas Milani