DeSisto Receives NSF Award for Nanotech Research
Contact: William DeSisto (207) 581-2291; Clinton Colmenares (207) 581-3742
ORONO, Me. – William (Bill) DeSisto, assistant professor of Chemical Engineering, has received the most prestigious honor the National Science Foundation awards to young researchers, the Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award.
CAREER awards go to junior faculty who “most effectively integrate research and education within the context of the mission of their organization,” according to the NSF. DeSisto is the fifth UMaine faculty member to receive a CAREER award since 2001; they have totaled more than $1.1 million.
DeSisto will receive $400,000 over five years for his project, “A new class of modified mesoporous silica membranes.
Silica membranes provide an alternative to traditional energy-intensive separation processes, like condensation, and could have applications ranging from refining petrochemicals to building better batteries for everyday consumer items.
But, DeSisto says, “In order for silica membranes to be used on a large scale, fundamental research into controlling their performance must be achieved.”
He plans to control the size of the pores in silica membranes and to control their surface chemistry through new approaches involving controlled chemical reactions within these tiny pores.
One goal is to prepare a class of membranes with a well-defined pore size on a nano-scale — millionths of a millimeter — that has, as yet, eluded researchers. Another goal is to fill these inorganic pores with organic material, thereby creating a hybrid “composite” membrane that can be molecularly tailored to specific separations. These membranes have potential in separating mixtures containing light gases and vapors, and larger molecules, such as proteins.
DeSisto has been working on issues in and around these “nanocomposite” materials for many years. The CAREER award helps give him a slight advantage over other researchers, who might just be entering the field.
“There is a lot of development underway,” he says, especially in research laboratories around the world, and among large global chemical companies. “They’re focusing on different applications. It’s still new, and there’s still a lot of promise. We haven’t realized it yet.”
One potential application for DeSisto’s membranes would be in the petrochemical industry, where there is a need to separate molecules of the same size, but with different physical properties. Current technology, condensation, does not do this well because the boiling points of different types of molecules can be very similar. A filter that could sort by size and physical property would make the separation more efficient.
DeSisto is also working with makers of lithium ion batteries. The batteries currently are made with a thin plastic film separating the electrodes. These batteries commonly overheat, which breaks the plastic film and creates significant safety concerns.
“With a hybrid porous silica layer, we could fill the pores with a plastic to allow the lithium ions to move through, while increasing the thermal stability due to the presence of the silica,” DeSisto says.