Theses and Dissertations Collection

Polyoxometalate clusters embedded into hydrogel biobeads may be able to solve

the challenges posed by free proton generation during remediation of

trichloroethylene by acting as buffers and reducing protons to hydrogen gas. In

this thesis, the challenges posed by systems that contain both diffusion and

reaction processes for protons are considered mathematically, and a computer

simulation to was developed to prove the relationship between diaphragm cell lag

period and reactive capabilities of membranes. Two polyoxometalate compounds,

sodium decavanadate and alumina sulfate, were successfully incorporated into a

poly(vinyl alcohol) hydrogel membrane, and the diffusivity changes associated

with each compound was determined. It was found that the diffusivity of protons

through an unmodified 10\% w/v poly(vinyl alcohol) membrane was $ 1.76 \times

10^{-5} \ \textup{cm}^2\ \textup{s}^{-1}$, the diffusivity through a 10\%/2\%

w/w/v poly(vinyl alcohol)/sodium decavanadate membrane was $ 3.10 \times 10^{-6}

\ \textup{cm}^2\ \textup{s}^{-1}$, and the diffusivity through a 10\%/2\% w/w/v

poly(vinyl alcohol)/alumina sulfate membrane was $ 3.32 \times 10^{-7} \

\textup{cm}^2\ \textup{s}^{-1} $. Through analysis of the diaphragm cell lag

period, it was found the incorporation of sodium decavanadate did not increase

the reactivity of a poly(vinyl alcohol) hydrogel, and incorporation of alumina

sulfate lowered the reactivity. These results indicate that polyoxometalate

integration into hydrogel membranes is feasible, but does not provide any

advantage to a bioremediation scenario.