John and Naida Ramil Professor,Department of Chemical & Biomedical Engineering.  He is the co-director of the Clean Energy Research Center (CERC) at USF and his research interests are solar energy, photocatalytic detoxification and disinfection of water and indoor air, biomass conversion, hydrogen production, and fuel cells.  Dr. Goswami is currently funded through the DOE and the Florida legislature. Current research in his lab has been focused on the effects of thermal and thermo-chemical ammonia treatment of TiO 2 nanoparticles (~30 nm) in the quest for a visible light catalyst with improved performance under solar lighting conditions. This would be highly applicable in the state of Florida, especially for decentralized water treatment systems which may be more sustainable during hurricanes.

The proposed REU project will build on research in photocatalytic detoxification of air and water using various catalysts and reactor designs under study. Using the catalysts developed by researchers in the CERC laboratory (e.g. doped titania-based catalysts) the REU student will conduct batch reactor tests to determine the effect of various parameters (e.g. light intensity and wavelength, humidity for air studies, contaminant type, pH, reactor design) on their ability to detoxify air and water. In addition, the antibacterial activity of the modified catalysts remains to be quantified. Contaminants will range from methyl orange, toluene, phenol, and microorganisms (E. coli, S. marcescens, B. atrophaeus) and students will be trained to run experiments, analyze samples using equipment available at USF (UV/VIS, HPLC, GC, TOC) and conduct data analysis to explain results.

More information: Dr. Goswami's website