LI Fong Yau, Sam
Professor
D.Sc., Ph. D, B. Sc. Imperial College, London, UK
Contact Information:
Office: S5-02-03
Tel: (65)-6516-2681
Fax: (65)-6779-1691
Email: chmlifys@nus.edu.sg
Research
Recognition and Achievements
- Outstanding Researcher Award, National University of Singapore/IMRE, 1999
- Dupont Accomplishment Award, DuPont Company, 1993
Research Interests
Areas of research interest include environmental analysis and sensing, water treatment technologies, waste to energy, microbial fuel cells, metabolomics, capillary electrophoresis, bioimaging, nanomaterials analysis, chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.
Research Highlight
Ref: Ee, L. Y.; Chia, S. Y. R.; Li, S. F. Y., Electrospray Fabrication of Ultrathin Chlorine-Resistant Polyamide Brackish Water Desalination Membrane with Protonated Montmorillonite Nanoplates. ACS Applied Polymer Materials 2023, 12, 9836-9851.
By using an electrospray manufacturing method, this study offers a novel approach to the in situ interfacial polymerization of trimesoyl chloride (TMC) and m-phenylenediamine (MPD). Sub-5 nm polyamide thin films are successfully fabricated by modulating the diffusivity and reaction kinetics of the monomers using exfoliated protonated montmorillonite nanoclay (MMT-H+). Withstanding exposure to up to 6,000 ppm·h of free chlorine, the thin-film nanocomposite membrane (PA_0.3HMMT) containing 0.03% w/v MMT-H+ nanoplates exhibits an exceptional resistance to chlorine degradation. During membrane cleaning, this resistance stops the polyamide active layer from potentially hydrolyzing. In brackish water reverse osmosis applications, the resulting thin film nanocomposite (TFN) membrane shows a high salt rejection of more than 93.0%. It’s interesting to note that, without affecting salt rejection performance, chlorine treatment increases the PA_0.3HMMT TFN membrane’s water permeance by 10.2% after 2,000 ppm·h free chlorine exposure. A sustainable membrane solution for wastewater treatment and saltwater desalination is provided by the electrospray production method in conjunction with the integration of MMT-H+ nanoclay. Thus, this study emphasizes the possibility of notable developments in water treatment technologies.
Teaching Contributions AY2024/2025
- CM4242 Advanced Analytical Techniques
Representative Publications
- Ee, L. Y.; Chia, S. Y. R.; Li, S. F. Y., Electrospray Fabrication of Ultrathin Chlorine-Resistant Polyamide Brackish Water Desalination Membrane with Protonated Montmorillonite Nanoplates. ACS Appl. Polym. Matter. 2023, 5, 9836–9851. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsapm.3c01590.
- Huang, S.; Lim, S. Y.; Tan, S. H.; Chan, M. Y.; Ni, W.; Li, S. F. Y. Targeted Plasma Metabolomics Reveals Association of Acute Myocardial Infarction Risk with the Dynamic Balance between Trimethylamine-N-oxide, Betaine, and Choline. J. Agric. Food Chem. 2023, 71, 15097–15105. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jafc.2c08241.
- Bai, H.; Lin, X. H.; Zhang, C.; Ee, L. Y.; Low, K. M.; Phua, T. W.; He, L.; Li, S. F. Y. Accelerated de-chelation of EDTA-metal complexes: A novel and versatile approach for wastewater and solid waste remediation. Chem. Eng. J. Adv. 2024, 19, 100633. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ceja.2024.100633.
- Ee, L. Y.; Chia, S. Y. R.; Li, S. F. Y. Boron removal using spherulitic polyamide Organic–Inorganic Thin‐Film nanocomposite desalination membranes. Adv. Sustain. Syst. 2024. https://doi.org/10.1002/adsu.202400087.
- Hamed, E. M.; He, L.; Rai, V.; Hu, S.; Li, S. F. Y. Copper Single‐Atom Nanozyme Mimicking Galactose Oxidase with Superior Catalytic Activity and Selectivity. Small 2024. https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.202405986.
- Low, K. M.; Lin, X.; Wu, H.; Li, S. F. Y. Ion-Imprinted Polymer-Based sensor for the detection of mercury ions. Polymers 2024, 16, 652. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym16050652.
- He, L.; Hamed, E. M.; Lin, X.; Li, S. F. Y. An efficient digestion technique for the analysis of heavy metals, Ca and Al in solid waste incineration ash. J. Environ. Manage. 2024, 373, 123519. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.123519.
- Yaphary, Y. L.; Wee, J. X.; Li, S. F. Y. Synergistic resource recoveries of phosphorus and usable water from sewage sludge incineration ash and concrete slurry wastewater. Resour. Conserv. Recycl. 2024, 212, 107956. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2024.107956.
