Page 432 - AWSAR 2.0

408 || AWSAR Awarded Popular Science Stories - 2019
Further studies have revealed that the same material can be reused up to 50 times with oil separation efficiency more than 95%. Even contamination of the aqueous phase with acid, base or surfactant failed to deter the performance of the superhydrophobic cotton with oil separation efficiency still more than 95%. Thus, the as-developed superhydrophobic cotton can be used for cleanup and recovery ofoilsonthesurfaceaswellontheriver/ seabed with a high oil absorption capacity and separation efficiency.
Under the expert supervision of Dr Uttam Manna, along with immense help from my co- worker Dr Adil Majeed Rather, we managed to publish this work entitled ‘Chemically Reactive Protein Nanoparticles for the Synthesis of a Durable and Deformable Superhydrophobic Material’ in Nanoscale Advances in 2019, which was cited as ‘the most popular article online’
by the journal. However, my quest to solve the issues related to oil spills did not end. The industrial discharge of wastewater containing oily contaminants to water bodies and paddy fields and the need to selectively discharge the water phase from oil storage tanks are the other set of problems to be addressed. These issues can be successfully tackled exploiting another phenomenal property termed ‘Underwater Superoleophobicity (UWSO)’, which means extremely oil-repelling underwater as is exhibited by fish scales, clam’s shell, seaweeds, etc., wherein a UWSO membrane can selectively allow only the water phase to pass through while repelling the oil phase. Extensive research in this regard, with a high success ratio, is being carried out at our lab in IIT, Guwahati, with a hope to save the endangered marine species and human life.