12/19/2015    Andrea Cano, Maira Valencia, and Mehaz Moon received the 2015 fall Phase I URI Student Seed Grant ($500)

03/05/2015    Dr. Zhang published an article in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, entitled "Heteroaggregation between PEI-coated Magnetic Nanoparticles and Algae: Effect of Particle Size on Algal Harvesting Efficiency". This work demonstrated the size effect of magnetite NPs (MNPs) coated with polyethylenimine (PEI) on the separation efficiency of Scenedesmus dimorphus as well as on the recovery efficiency of MNPs from algal biomass. The size dependence of algal harvesting efficiency was further explained by a novel physical model that predicts the settling velocity of MNPs-algae aggregates under magnetophoresis. The surface interactions between MNPs and algae were analyzed by the extended Derjaguin−Landau−Verwey−Overbeek (EDLVO) theory that computed the thermodynamic energies from multiple involved interfacial forces. The aim of this work is to contribute to the development of sustainable magnetic separation processes for algal separation. See more details at: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acsami.5b00572

04/27/2015    Dr. Zhang's first PhD student, Michael Agbakpe,  successfully defended his research thesis entitled "Developing Functionalized Bacteria cells and Magnetic Nanoparticles for Sustainable Biofuel-Producing Algae Harvesting" and became a PhD now. Congratulations!

12/2015  Wen Zhang presented talk on Applications of Magnetophoresis and Reactive Electrochemical Membrane Filtration for Algal Harvesting, Destabilization and Pretreatment for Lipid Extraction at The Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology (IMET), Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China , and Microalgae Biotechnology Center, SDIC, Beijing, China respectively.

5/18/2015    Michael Agbakpe and master students, Zhang Gan and Likun Hua, advised by Dr. Zhang graduated from NJIT. Congratulations!

01/10/2015   Dr. Zhang was invited to give a talk to graduate students at Tsinghua University in Shenzhen, China on "Environmental Behavior, Biological Interactions and Applications of Functional Nanomaterials" 

03/21/2015     Marah, Christina, and Julissa received the 2015 spring phase I URI Student Seed Grant ($500)

03/25/2015    Dr. Zhang organized and moderated a symposium in Spring ACS meeting in Denver Colorado with Profs. Danmeng Shuai (GWU) and Brian Chaplin (UIC). The symposium was entitled "Microalgae: A Renewable Energy Source and a Sustainable Solution for the Environment". Dr. Zhang gave a talk in the symposium on Applications of Polymer-coated Magnetic Nanoparticles for Algal Biomass Harvesting.

03/10/2015    Liyuan Kuang did a poster presentation on Enhanced visible light-driven photocatalytic H2 production using C-TiO2/rGO nanocomposite catalyst. Johnson & Johnson Engineering Showcase. New Brunswick, NJ 

5/18/2015 Michael received the Doctoral Excellence Award

04/30/2015     Marah Magpile received the 2015 Summer Undergraduate Research Scholarship ($3000)