Prof. Pedro ALVAREZ, George R. Brown Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Rice University, USA, delivered the 38th PAIR Distinguished Lecture titled “Nanotechnology-Enabled Water Treatment” on 6 May 2025 on the PolyU campus. The lecture attracted over 60 participants in person and captured an online audience of over 13,000 from different countries and regions who watched the live broadcast on multiple social media platforms, including Bilibili, WeChat, Weibo and YouTube.
Prof. Alvarez highlighted limitations in conventional water treatment, stressing the urgent need for technological advancements to tackle the challenges. He also discussed the emerging opportunities that nanotechnology offers to revolutionise water treatment systems. He then explained how it can improve pollutant-removal efficiency, reduce energy consumption, and enable cost-effective decentralised solutions. In conclusion, Prof. Alvarez affirmed that nanotechnology holds significant promise for advancing sustainable resources management, enabling safe and low-energy water treatment and reuse. He envisioned that high-performance modular systems that would deliver multifunctional solutions with minimal infrastructure requirements.
