Chedly Tizaoui

Editor-in-Chief of Ozone: Science and Engineering (Taylor & Francis)
Associate Editor of Euro-Mediterranean Journal for Environmental Integration (Springer Nature)
Fellow of the UK Institution of Chemical Engineers (FIChemE)
Swansea University, UK

Water treatment represents a critical global challenge due to escalating pollution and increasingly stringent regulations. The World Health Organization estimates that over 2 billion people live in water-stressed regions, and 1.7 billion rely on contaminated wa-ter sources. Microbial contamination of drinking water is a signifi-cant health hazard, transmitting diseases such as diarrhea, cholera, and polio, and resulting in approximately 500,000 diarrheal deaths annually. Emerging contaminants, including pharmaceuticals, PFAS, and antimicrobials, further threaten human health and the environment.

Agriculture, as the largest consumer of water, contributes approxi-mately 1,260 km³ of effluent annually, accounting for 56% of all discharges. These effluents introduce pollutants such as nutrients, pesticides, and antimicrobial resistance substances into the envi-ronment. In water-scarce regions, desalination is increasingly relied upon to convert seawater into drinking water. However, this ener-gy-intensive process generates toxic brine, which harms coastal ecosystems while containing valuable recoverable resources such as critical metals and energy.

Addressing these challenges necessitates the development of effi-cient, cost-effective, and sustainable technologies, with advanced materials playing a pivotal role. Water treatment technologies often rely on both oxidation and separation processes such as mem-branes, adsorption, coagulation/flocculation, and catalytic ozona-tion.

This plenary will explore how advanced materials are instrumental in tackling water and environmental challenges. It will highlight key research findings, technical barriers, and legal challenges associated with implementing these materials in the water sector, as well as outline future research needs to drive sustainable solutions.

Chedly Tizaoui is a Full Professor of Chemical Engineering at Swansea University (UK) and he is leading the Water and Resources Recovery research lab, working on research projects to tackle several water and environmental challenges. He is also the Editor-in-Chief of Ozone: Science and Engineering (T&F), and Editor of Euro-Mediterranean Journal for Environmental Integration (Springer Nature). Tizaoui has research interests in Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOPs) including ozonation, non-thermal plasma, photocatalysis, and other catalytic processes as means to eradicate emerging contaminants in water and wastewater (e.g. pharmaceuticals, PFAS, pesticides, and antimicrobial substances). His research also spans over a range of advanced physical treatment processes including membranes, GAC, and ion exchange and their combination with AOPs. Tizaoui has extensively published peer-reviewed scientific articles in leading water, environmental, and chemical engineering research journals, book chapters, and conferences, and authored numerous professional reports. His research has been supported by grants from various sources including research councils (e.g. EPSRC, BBSRC, the EU), industry, and various government funding. Tizaoui was the Director of the Chemical and Environmental Engineering programmes at Swansea University, and he is a Fellow of the UK Institution of Chemical Engineers (FIChemE).

Arnaud Spangenberg

The Mulhouse Materials Science Institute (IS2M), Mulhouse, France

Humankind always sought to create tools which al-low the accomplishment of tasks that would be difficult or couldn’t be done otherwise. However, reproduction of sim-ple tools at the microscale often require time consuming and multi-steps processes. To respond to increasing needs in healthcare and in manufacturing, nanorobotics has to change paradigm to overcome the current limitations on dexterity, compactness, range, and precision. 4D printing concept ap-pears in 2013 with the idea to facilitate the assembling of macroscopic objects. The fourth dimension refers not only to the ability for material objects to change form after they are produced, but also to their ability to change function after they are printed. At the microscale, 3D direct laser writing (3D DLW) based on multi-photon polymerization has be-come the gold standard for submicrometer additive manufac-turing. Various stimuli-responsive materials have been em-ployed to manufacture advanced microactuators. In particu-lar, liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) have attracted consider-able attention due to their reversible, large shape-morphing and their fast response towards temperature or light stimuli. However, their processability by 3D DLW is not easy and the resulting objects rarely exhibit controlled and predictable de-formation. In order to increase the complexity of defor-mation and thus to fulfil the requirements of nanorobotics, new programming strategies must be implemented. Besides, most of the printed objects present fixed properties. The pos-sibility to reconfigure their properties on demand would de-finitively be a key parameter for many applications.
In this lecture, we propose alternative strategies to reconfig-ure or program the shape and the surface properties of 3D printed micro-object. Firstly, the employ of controlled radical polymerization to confer to the object a living character will be introduced. Secondly, a new approach to perform the alignment of LCEs in a precise manner will be discussed. By playing both on the orientation strategy and the fabrication parameters, different deformations (curling, bending, twist-ing…) can be programmed starting from a single CAD model. A collection of building block is first demonstrated, then as-sembly of these building block is achieved, leading to 3D micro-objects presenting sophisticated behaviour. This work opens up new prospects for moving from a programmable material to a functional 3D-printed device.

Arnaud Spangenberg studied Molecular Physical Chemistry at the Paris-Sud University (Orsay, France) and received his PhD (2009) from the ENS Cachan (currently ENS Paris-Saclay) dealing with the design and the characterization of photoswitchable nanosystems. At the University of Amsterdam, he spent two years as post-doctoral fellow in A.M. Brouwer’s group (HIMS, UvA) and developed a wide variety of experimental techniques related to single molecule fluorescence spectroscopy (including FLIM, FCS, FLCS...). In 2011, he was the recipient of the “ANR retour PostDoctorant” career development grant of the French National Research Agency focused on new insight in two-photon photopolymerization. Since 2013, he has now a permanent position as CNRS researcher in IS2M (Material Science Institute of Mulhouse) where he is developing multi-scale additive manufacturing and associated functional materials.

Erum Pervaiz

Professor in the Chemical Engineering Department, School of Chemical and Materials Engineering (SCME), National University of Sciences & Technology (NUST), Pakistan
Senior Researcher at the Laboratory of Chemical Technology (LCT), Ghent University, Belgium

The increasing global demand for sustainable energy solutions has positioned electrochemical water splitting as a key technology for clean hydrogen production. Green hydrogen stands at the nexus of energy innovation and environmental stewardship, offering a transformative solution for decarbonizing industries, power generation, and transportation. Water as an abundant source of H2 can be effectively used to make green hydrogen. Starting from alkaline electrolyzers to solid oxide electrolyzers a range of nano catalysts can be used for efficient and sustainable production of H2. This work presents 2-D materials (MXenes, g-C3N4 & rGO) with MOFs (UiO-66, Cu-MOF, MIL-101) and Metals carbides, sulfides and phosphides as electrocatalysts in alkaline electrolysis, whereas a range of multicomponent perovskites are explored as solid oxides in high temperature solid oxide electrolysis process. More than 95% conversion efficiency is achieved with La Sr doped perovskites, whereas molybdenum phosphides showed excellent activity as low temperature electrocatalysts for hydrogen production. Current density, Power density, Overpotential, Tafel slopes and stability measurements along with impedance spectroscopy is used to analyze the efficiency of the electrochemical water conversion. Moreover the reaction kinetics & thermodynamic evaluation is conducted using Eley Rideal and Langmuir Hinshelwood models.

Erum Pervaiz is a distinguished professor at the School of Chemical and Materials Engineering (SCME), National University of Sciences & Technology (NUST), Pakistan, and a senior researcher at the Laboratory of Chemical Technology, Ghent University, Belgium. She earned her Ph.D. in Materials and Surface Engineering from NUST in 2013 and has authored over 100 publications in leading international journals.

Recognized with the prestigious Talented Young Scientist Award in 2017 and SCME’s Best Teacher Award in 2018, Dr. Pervaiz is renowned for her contributions to catalysis, water treatment, and high-frequency applications. Her pioneering research in hydrogen generation focuses on clean fuel production using advanced materials like transition metal compounds, MOFs, MXenes, and graphene derivatives. She combines expertise in reaction engineering and adsorption to address critical global energy and environmental challenges.

Owen Guy

Director of the Centre for Nanohealth in the College of Engineering at Swansea University
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) panel member
Welsh representative on the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Heads of Chemistry UK standing committee
Professor and Head of Chemistry at Swansea University
Swansea University, UK

Context/Purpose: Recent advances in semiconductor fabrica-tion processes have enabled the development of cutting-edge sensing technologies—ranging from silicon nanowire and graphene-based biosensors to integrated microfluidics and microneedle platforms. By addressing key challenges in se-lectivity, multiplexing, and fluidic integration, this talk high-lights novel research developments on graphene sensor plat-forms for health / medical diagnostics, environmental moni-toring (gas sensing), and food safety.
Methods: Sensor devices have been designed, fabricated, and optimized using semiconductor materials (silicon and gra-phene) and semiconductor processing techniques (e.g., pho-tolithography, chemical vapor deposition). These sensors were then functionalized using biorecognition molecules for sensor operation using diverse sensing detection modalities, including electrochemical, FET, and waveguide methods. These sensing platforms have been integrated with microflu-idics for real-time monitoring. Multiplex sensor platforms have been developed.
Results: The resulting platforms demonstrated high sensitivity and specificity for detecting biomarkers at picogram-per-milliliter levels. Graphene’s unique electronic and mechani-cal properties, in particular, have contributed to signal trans-duction for a range of biomarkers for detection of cancer risk, dementia, and hepatitis. Integration with microfluidic channels and multiplexed testing and the challenges around this are presented. Photonic sensor platforms are also pre-sented and microneedle-based approaches for combined di-agnostic and therapeutic applications are discussed.
Interpretation: These findings underscore the versatility of semiconductor-based sensor technologies and highlight how surface functionalization, combined with scalable fabrication methods, can achieve robust performance in complex biolog-ical and environmental matrices. Moreover, the successful synergy between multiple sensing modalities and microfluid-ics illustrates a path toward fully integrated, on-chip diagnos-tic systems.
Conclusion: By leveraging semiconductor fabrication tech-niques and materials such as graphene and silicon nanowires, this work paves the way for next-generation, high-performance sensing platforms that can be readily translated into clinical, environmental, and industrial applications.

Owen J Guy FRSC (OJG) is Head of Chemistry at Swansea and Director of the Centre for Nanohealth in the College of Engineering at Swansea University; a unique facility applying device fabrication & cleanroom semiconductor processing to healthcare problems in collaboration with industry. Owen is formerly Head of the Systems Process & Engineering Centre (SPEC) one of 3 research centres within Swansea’s College of Engineering. Owen’s group has 18 years’ experience in clean room device fabrication (silicon, silicon carbide, graphene & MEMS technology). Owen’s research background in Silicon Carbide led to him developing the world’s first epitaxial graphene biosensors in 2010 for detection of a cancer risk marker, via EPSRC projects (EP/I00193X/1)[O. Guy et al., 2D Materials 1 (2014) 025004; Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, 2014. 190(0): p. 723-729; J. Mater. Chem. B, 2014, doi: 10.1039/C3TB21235A, Patented under (WO2011004136 A1) and (P100072GB)]. Owen is also pioneering integration of biosensor chips, based on active nanostructure transducers, with microfluidics EP/M006301/1. Owen has also developed silicon microneedle (MN) and microfluidics technology through EPSRC (EP/G061882/1, EP/L020734/1 & EP/I00193X/1, EP/N013506/1), KTP (KTP007901), & TSB / Innovate UK projects (101498), collaborating closely with industry partner SPTS Technologies.

Owen has successfully supervised several more than 15 PhD and MSc students, and is currently supervising over 20 Postgraduate students. Owen has vast experience of industrial collaboration under KTP and Innovate UK (TSB) projects, and has PI grant income of more than £4 million since 2012 and a further £9 million as Co-I. OJG has published over 60 papers, holds 2 patents (WO2011004136 and P100072GB), and was one of six candidates shortlisted for the Royal Academy of Engineering 2009 young entrepreneur award. Owen is a member of the CISM (centre for Integrative Semiconductor Materials), led by Prof. Paul Meredith.

CISM is a new £30M Semiconductor Centre at Swansea with an additional £60M support from industry.

Mohamed Khayet

Director of the “Membranes and Renewable Energies (MER)” Research Group
Editor-in-Chief of the “Materials in Separation Science” Section in Separations (MDPI)
Professor at the Faculty of Physical Sciences
University Complutense of Madrid, Spain

The potential of the emerging membrane distillation (MD) technology over other separation processes is its ability to address the water-energy-environment nexus. It can be integrated with renewable energy sources such as solar energy or waste heat and treat highly saline solutions up to saturation, enabling the treatment of brines discharged from water treatment plants, making MD an environmentally friendly technology that aims to achieve zero liquid discharge, water production and recovery of valuable minerals. It contributes to at least five of the United Nations SDGs for 2030. One of the drawbacks hindering the industrial implementation of MD is the lack of properly engineered commercial MD membranes on the market although several types of membranes have been proposed. Currently, the commercial membranes used in MD pilot plants (initially prepared for microfiltration) suffer from pore wetting, which reduces the quality of the produced water and, consequently, their lifetime. Pore wetting is mainly due to the large maximum pore size, the hydrophobic level of the membrane surface and the fouling/scaling phenomena. Despite the widespread knowledge of dynamic research fields of materials, membrane engineering techniques and transport phenomena, there is still a substantial information gap related to the scalability, stability and durability of MD membranes, and their resistance to harsh operating conditions. Various hydrophobic materials have been explored in MD membrane engineering with interesting structures and functionalities for different applications. These include, but are not limited to, fluoro-polymers, functionalized carbon-based, plasmonic, semi-conductor, metal-organic frameworks and non-carbonaceous materials (e.g., MXenes, surface modifying macromolecules, etc.). An MD membrane must be tailored for each MD configuration and for each feed solution to be treated. In this lecture, after the introduction of the current state of MD technology and its membrane engineering based on literature data analysis, bibliometric methods and machine learning, some case studies of nanofibrous-engineered MD membranes with different materials, morphological structures, hydrophobic nature and characteristics will be presented. These include mixed matrix, nanocomposite, surface modified, double-or-triple-layered, nature-inspired, and solar or photothermally-heated membranes, as well as recycled end-of-life membranes and discarded modules contributing to the long-awaited circular economy and sustainability in membrane science and water sector.

Acknowledgement: M. Khayet gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (Ref. PID2022-138389OB-C31).

Mohamed Khayet is director of the “Membranes and Renewable Energies (MER)” Research Group at the University Complutense of Madrid (UCM) and Professor (Applied Physics Area) at the Faculty of Physical Sciences (UCM) (Department of Structure of Matter, Thermal Physics and Electronics). He obtained his Ph.D. (1997) in Physical Sciences and has carried out various research stays in international institutions (Industrial Membrane Research Institute in Ottawa, Canada; Institute of Nuclear Chemistry and Technology in Warsaw, Poland; Centre for Clean Water Technologies at the University of Nottingham in UK; Singapore Membrane Technology Centre and Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, Yale University in New Haven, USA; University of California Berkeley in USA, etc.). Among other grants, he obtained the Fulbright Grant (2019). He is an expert in the field of membrane science, nanotechnology and renewable energy. He has coordinated several national and international projects funded by different institutions (European Union, Middle East Desalination Research Centre, Spanish Ministries; Companies such as Abengoa, etc.) on membranes and modules engineering for different separation processes. He published over 200 papers in international journals, filed 6 International Patents, published 5 books and various book chapters in the field of membrane science and related technology. Among other recognitions, he was awarded the Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water (PSIPW) in 2012. He edited various special issues in international journals such as Desalination, Polymers and Membranes. He acted as Editor of the international Journal “Desalination” (2018-2022) and served as associated editor of different journals. Currently, he is member of the Editorial Board of various journals related with water treatment, renewable energy, nanotechnology, membrane science and separation processes.