This project was developed by M.S. student Sergio De La Fuente, Ph.D. student Sheyda Shakiba, and Clements High student Jennifer Yuan, as an activity for Earth Day and STEM events at the Children’s Museum of Houston and is continually being improved. The activity demonstrates water treatment (dye removal) using photocatalytic nanoparticles. Students compare dye removal by the nanoparticles (under a nail salon UV lamp for indoor events, or the sun for outdoor events) to a control (dark) sample. We gratefully acknowledge the staff at the Children’s Museum for hosting training workshops as part of the “Portal to the Public Network” (PoPNet) program to improve the activities and facilitation.

Tips: It would be ideal to immobilize the TiO2 to a surface, so that the treated water will appear visually clear. We are working on how to accomplish this while still having the reaction proceed quickly (within 2 min). In the meantime, we have coupled this activity with a flocculation and filtration experiment, where the students flocculate the nanoparticles with kitchen supplies (alum and gelatin) and then remove them in a sand filter.
Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticles - Activity Description
Facilitator Document – coming soon

This project was developed by undergraduate researchers Sairah Samma, Odalys Najera, and Gokul Nair, as an activity for Earth Day events at the Children’s Museum of Houston and high school recruitment events at UH. The activity demonstrates the water filtration capability of the sediments in a 3-gal wetland model. The protocol to construct and operate the microcosm is shared here: Wetland Bin Construction Instructions

Tips: To attract visitors to the activity, we grew native flower seedlings and created an activity for children to plant the seedlings in a peat pot, then water their seedling with the filtered water.