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PROFESSOR MARK R. WIESNER
The DailyTech article
Duke Scientist Designs Replacement For Decades Old Fuel Cell
Membrane Design said
Duke scientist Wiesner invents a membrane that is cheaper and can
operate at higher temperatures and lower humidities than Nafion, the
current most widely used membrane, invented in the '60s.
Mark Wiesner, Ph.D., a Duke civil engineer and senior author of the
research, explains the new membrane's advantages, stating, "The current
gold standard membrane is a polymer that needs to be in a humid
environment in order to function efficiently. If the polymer membrane
dries out, its efficiency drops. We developed a ceramic membrane made of
iron nanoparticles that works at much lower humidity. And because it is
a ceramic, it should also tolerate higher temperatures. If the next
series of tests proves that fuel cells with these new membranes perform
well at high temperatures, we believe it might attract the type of
investment needed to bring this technology to the market."
The current most commonly used membrane, Nafion, was first developed in
the 1960s and has changed relatively little since. This polymeric
membrane becomes unstable at high temperatures and loses efficiency due
to dehydration. Nafion membranes are pricey, accounting for nearly 40
percent of the cost of the average system by Wiesner's estimates.
Wiesner's membranes are significantly cheaper to manufacture.
Mark R. Wiesner, Ph.D. is
James L. Meriam Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering,
Pratt School of Engineering,
Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences,
Duke University.
He is cofounder of the
Partnership for Education and Research in Membrane Nanotechnologies
(PERMEANT) and the
Center for Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology (CBEN).
He is Associate Editor of
Environmental Engineering Science.
Nanotechnologies will have broad social, economic, and environmental
implications; in some cases entirely unanticipated. His work addresses
both applications of nanomaterials that will enable sustainability and
the implications of these materials for public health and the
environment.
He is developing new processes based on emerging nanomaterials that
include membranes, catalysts, and adsorbants while he investigates their
social, economic, and environmental effects.
Research in his group addresses challenges at the interface between
water, energy, and materials. Specifically, his research is currently
oriented along three main axes:
- Membrane Science: membrane fabrication, systems development,
optimization, cost modeling, applications (membrane distillation, water
treatment, desalination, water reuse, fuel cell development).
- Environmental Nanotechnology: fabrication, transport and fate in
the environment, risk assessment, photocatalytic properties, toxicity,
new environmental technologies.
- Surface Chemistry and Particle Transport: Morphology of particle
deposits, particle transport, aggregation, filtration, particle
characterization, and surface chemistry.
Mark authored
Towards a Green Nanotechnology,
coauthored
Environmental Nanotechnology,
Characterization of Particles in Filter Effluents,
Nanomaterials, Sustainability, and Risk Minimization,
Hydrodynamics of Fractal Aggregates with Radially Varying
Permeability,
Enhanced adsorption of arsenic onto nano-maghemites: As(III) as a
probe
of the surface heterogeneity and structure,
Fouling in tangential-flow ultrafiltration. The effect of colloid
size
and coagulation pretreatment, and
Aqueous Synthesis of Water-Soluble Alumoxanes: Environmentally Benign
Precursors to Alumina and Aluminum-Based Ceramics, and
coedited
Membrane Processes in Water Treatment.
Read the
full list of his publications!
Mark earned his
B.A. in Mathematics/Biology at Coe College, Cedar Rapids, Iowa in 1978.
He earned his M.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering at
University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa in 1980.
He earned his Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering at
The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland in 1985.
He did his
Post-Doctoral Studies at
Chemical Engineering Sciences Laboratory,
Ecole Nationale Superieure des Industries Chimiques,
(ENSIC) Nancy, France from 1986 to 1987.
He received the 2004 Frontiers in Research Award from the
Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors. In 2004
he was also named a de Fermat Laureate and holds an
International Chair of Excellence at the French Polytechnic Institute
and National Institute for Applied Sciences in Toulouse, France.
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