Vanderbilt researchers have developed a novel membrane for membrane distillation that is resistant to both fouling and wetting and can be used to treat highly contaminated saline wastewater.
Researchers at Vanderbilt University have developed a new method of producing microscale and nanoscale ferroelectric fluids. These particles are useful in a variety of piezoelectric, pyroelectric, and electrooptic devices such as thin-film capacitors, electronic transducers, actuators, high-k dielectrics, pyroelectric sensors, and optical memories.
In this technology diffraction-based sensors made from porous materials are used for the detection of small molecules. The porous nature of the diffraction gratings that gives rise to an extremely large active sensing area enables a very high level of sensitivity. Specificity is achieved by functionalizing the porous gratings with selective binding species.
Vanderbilt researchers have developed a low-cost, high sensitivity sensor based on a porous silicon (PSi) membrane waveguide. This sensor is designed to be a cost-effective alternative to conventional fiber optic and SPR sensors for both biosensing and chemical sensing applications.