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Multifunctional zwitterionic hydrogels for the rapid elimination of organic and inorganic micropollutants from water

Nature Water volume 2, pages 62–71 (2024)Cite this article

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Abstract

The elimination of micropollutants from water is challenging due to their chemical diversity, low concentrations and slow uptake by industrial adsorbents. Here we report a tunable multifunctional hydrogel platform for the rapid absorption of organic and inorganic micropollutants in a single step. Zwitterionic backbones increase mesh size while simultaneously adding counterion-free adsorption sites, enabling the removal of diverse micropollutants at least 10 times more rapidly than a commercial activated carbon–ion exchange resin mixture and 100 times faster than other multifunctional adsorbents. The hydrogels are prepared by a facile synthesis and form factors can be tailored for specific applications, such as microparticles for use in packed beds or tablets in portable water treatment. We demonstrate their effectiveness in treating complex contaminant mixtures, including in the presence of background hardness. Lower compressibility, rapid mass transport and high stability make zwitterionic hydrogels scalable for real-world applications in the efficient treatment of highly contaminated water to below regulatory limits for extended periods of time.

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Fig. 1: Synthesis and use of zwitterionic hydrogel absorbents.
Fig. 2: Uptake of micropollutants by hydrogel microparticles.
Fig. 3: Kinetics of micropollutant uptake.
Fig. 4: Practical applications of zwitterionic hydrogels in water treatment.

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Data availability

The data supporting the findings in this study are available within the paper and its Supplementary Information. All other data are available from the authors upon reasonable request. Source data are provided with this paper.

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the MIT Abdul Latif Jameel Water and Food Systems Lab (J-WAFS). D.G. also thanks the Rasikbhai L. Meswani Fellowship for Water Solutions for funding. A.F.H. also thanks the MIT Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program for funding. D.G. also thanks I. Yadav, J. D. J. Rathinaraj, A. J. Okyere, L. Attia and W.-N. Wu for experimental support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Devashish Gokhale, Andre F. Hamelberg & Patrick S. Doyle

  2. Harvard Medical School Initiative for RNA Medicine, Boston, MA, USA

    Patrick S. Doyle

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  1. Devashish Gokhale
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Contributions

D.G. and P.S.D. conceived and designed the project and prepared the paper. D.G. and A.F.H. planned and performed the experiments. D.G. analysed the data. All of the authors participated in discussions.

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Correspondence to Patrick S. Doyle.

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Nature Water thanks Despina Fragouli, Jun Li and Canhui Yang for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Discussions 1.1–1.8, Methods 2.1–2.6, Figs. 1–16, information on Video 1 and source data, and references.

Supplementary Video 1

Use of hydrogel microparticles to rapidly treat a solution of iron at very high concentration (10 g l−1).

Supplementary Data 1

Compositions and internal and supernatant concentrations of micropollutants for experiments performed as part of this study.

Source data

Source Data Fig. 2

Statistical source data.

Source Data Fig. 3

Statistical source data.

Source Data Fig. 4

Statistical source data.

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Gokhale, D., Hamelberg, A.F. & Doyle, P.S. Multifunctional zwitterionic hydrogels for the rapid elimination of organic and inorganic micropollutants from water. Nat Water 2, 62–71 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44221-023-00180-8

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