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Light-Driven Environmental Processes
Light-Driven Environmental Processes
Our lab integrates knowledge from a variety of disciplines including chemical, civil, and environmental engineering, physics, chemistry, biology, and public health. This allows us to look at persistent environmental problems from new angles. Research efforts span the intersection of materials science and environmental engineering, with particular focus on the detection and removal of chemical and biological contaminants in water using sunlight, engineered light sources, and light-activated nanomaterials. The research is motivated by a desire to create a healthier and safer environment with cleaner air, water, and natural landscapes.
Below are highlights from a few on-going projects in the lab.
Understanding Viral Photoinactivation Mechanisms
High energy UV lamps are widely used for disinfection and sunlight is a known biocide. The spectral shape, intensity of the light, and pathogen type are major determining factors in the photoinactivation response, with viral pathogens tending to be the most resistant. Yet, there is a paucity of literature on viral responses to photoinactivation. Since exposure to light is an important avenue for controlling viruses in both natural and engineered systems, there is a need to further our understanding of these wavelength dependent inactivation mechanisms.
Related Publications:
Wang, Y.; He, G. X.; Chiang, L.; Loeb, S. K. (2025) Evaluating the solar inactivation of enveloped and non-enveloped bacteriophage using biological weighting functions in natural and simulated waters. Water Research, 289: 124843.
Sanchez-Quete, F.; Wang, Y.; Loeb, S. K. (2025) Photoinactivation of MS2 Bacteriophage Is Enhanced by Unrecognized Proteins from Viral Preparations in Clear Suspensions. Environmental Science & Technology Letters, 12 (10), 1426-1431.
Plasmonic Enhanced Solar Photocatalysis for Disinfection and Environmental Remediation
Harnessing solar energy for water treatment is a highly desirable approach to provide safe water in resource limited locations. The preferred photocatalytic materials for water treatment applications have a relatively wide bandgap that is not ideal for solar applications. Nanomaterials exhibiting surface plasmon resonance (SPR) can act as light antennae when incoming resonant light radiation generates an intense electric-field enhancement leading to absorption cross-sections many times greater than the size of the particle. There exists a recognized opportunity to couple small SPR nanoparticles with photocatalytic semi-conductors to enhance photocatalysis by improving light absorption, but a disconnect between material design and proposed application has limited their application in environmental technologies.
Related Publications:
Wasim, S.; Loeb, S. K. (2026) Aluminum nanoparticle enhanced TiO2 photocatalysis of organic pollutants under solar and UV-B irradiation. npj Clean Water, 9:29.
Loeb, S. K.; Alvarez, P. J. J.; Brame, J. A.; Cates, E. L.; Choi, W.; Crittenden, J.; Dionysiou, D. D.; Li, Q.; Li-Puma, G.; Quan, X.; Sedlak, D. L.; Waite, T. D.; Westerhoff, P.; Kim, J. H. (2018) The Technology Horizon for Photocatalytic Water Treatment: A Sunrise or Sunset? Environmental Science & Technology, 53 (6), 2937-2947
Improving Conventional Methods and Developing New Techniques for Detection of Viral Pathogens in the Environment
For the numerous human viruses without straight-forward cell culture methods, qPCR technologies can rapidly detect the presence of a viral genome, but cannot distinguish between infectious and non-infectious material. Culture detection methods require long incubation times that delay measurement, putting populations at risk. Improved methods for detecting or predicting the fate and transport of viruses in the environment have enormous potential to improve water safty.
Related Publications:
Wang, Y.; He, G. X.; Riot-Bretêcher, B.; Pelletier, M. D.; Huang, Y.; Loeb, S. K. (2026) Integrating Meteorological Data into Linear Mixed Models for Sunlight Inactivation of Indicator Organisms in Natural Lake Water. Water Research, 303: 126175
Loeb, S. K.; Wei, H.; Kim, J. H. (2021) Measuring Temperature Heterogeneities during Solar-Photothermal Heating using Quantum Dot Nanothermometry. Analyst, 146, 2048-2056.
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