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Zarama Buritica, Jessica V.

University of British Columbia

There is a pressing need for safe and efficient water remediation methods, and photocatalysis is one such option. In this context, carbon nitride (CNx), is gaining prominence as a metal-free and cost-effective photocatalytic polymer that shows promise in addressing issues such as arsenic contamination. However, a limiting factor is the polymer's dispersibility and ability to interact with oxyanions in water. Modification of the CNx surface, through methylation of CNx amino end-groups, is one route to increasing the polymer’s solubility ability to bind anions. Previous work showed that while the methylation of the monomer of CNx (melamine) and smaller polymers is possible, the same methodologies are not transferable to the larger and functional CNx polymer (melon). This thesis explores the challenges associated with the methylation of CNx polymers using a combination of experimental and ab initio computational techniques. The inhibition of methylation is attributed to strong non-covalent interactions between individual polymer chains, and effective methylation is facilitated by the exfoliation of CNx. The findings in this work unlock viable alternative pathways to CNx modification.

Text

2024-03-11

Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/87548

Chemistry

University of British Columbia

UBCO

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/