Abstract: Water reclamation is an attractive approach to address global water shortage issues. Many innovative technologies have been established for contaminant removal from various wastewater sources. The utilization of nanosized photocatalysts for the remediation of environmental problems has shown remarkable potential in line with the rapid development of nanoscience and nanotechnology. The modification in atomic level to produce particles that are independent in nanoscale has provided a myriad of novel characteristics that cannot be found in bulk materials. The photocatalyst can be synthesized using bottom-up approach to carefully tailor the desired properties, such as surface charges and functionalities to interact with the pollutants. Tremendous research efforts have been focused on the fine-tuning and the modification of these semiconductors for efficient degradation of organic pollutants since semiconductors are able to efficiently degrade a wide range of organic-based pollutants found in wastewater. On the other hand, membrane technology is also playing increasing roles in wastewater treatment and water reclamation owing to their attractive features compared to conventional techniques. Lately, photocatalysts and membrane technologies have been merged to form a relatively new class of nanocomposite membrane known as photocatalytic membranes. The synergic combination of the separation and reaction processes allows optimal performances in terms of productivity and sustainability. Through the unique combinations, the limitations of photocatalytic reaction and membrane separation can be resolved. The polymeric membrane acts as the host to enable facile recovery of photocatalyst nanoparticles, hence minimizing the risks of secondary pollutions. Likewise, the fouling issues associated to membrane technology can be mitigated through the incorporation of photocatalysts. The design of the photocatalytic membrane and its reactor requires a multidisciplinary approach in which different disciplines including chemistry, membrane engineering, and process engineering. This presentation focuses on the development of novel and efficient photocatalysts and photocatalytic membranes for wastewater treatment and water reclamation. The roles of nano-photocatalysts in heightening the efficiency of membrane technologies through the fabrication of photocatalytic membranes will be highlighted. The future outlooks, challenges and upscaling of this innovative technology will also be covered.

Biography: Goh Pei Sean serves as Associate Professor in the School of Chemical and Energy Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). She received her PhD degree in Gas Engineering in 2012 in UTM. Pei Sean is an associate research fellow of the Advanced Membrane Research Technology Research Centre (AMTEC), UTM. She is also the Head of Nanostructured Materials Research Group in UTM. Her research interests focus on the synthesis of a wide range of nanostructured materials and their composites for membrane-based separation processes. One of the main focuses of her research is the applications of carbon-based nanomaterials and polymeric nanocomposite membranes for acidic gas removal as well as desalination and wastewater treatment. Pei Sean has authored or co-authored more than 130 research papers. She has also contributed 10 book chapters and 1 edited research book. Her research publication has received about 2350 citations and her current Scopus H-index is 27.