Polymeric nanofiber membranes of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) blended with polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) were fabricated using an electrospinning process at different conditions and used for the filtration of three different liquid suspensions to determine the efficiency of the filter membranes. The three liquid suspensions included lake water, abrasive particles from a water jet cutter, and suspended magnetite nanoparticles. The major goal of this research work was to create highly hydrophilic nanofiber membranes and utilize them to filter the suspended liquids at an optimal level of purification (i.e., drinkable level). In order to overcome the fouling/biofouling/blocking problems of the membrane, a coagulation process, which enhances the membrane’s efficiency for removing colloidal particles, was used as a pre-treatment process. Two chemical agents, Tanfloc (organic) and Alum (inorganic), were chosen for the flocculation/coagulation process. The removal efficiency of the suspended particles in the liquids was measured in terms of turbidity, pH, and total dissolved solids (TDS). It was observed that the coagulation/filtration experiments were more efficient at removing turbidity, compared to the direct filtration process performed without any coagulation and filter media.

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Aluminum nitride (AlN) was grown on c‐plane sapphire substrates by hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE). The experiments utilized a two zone inductively heated hot‐wall reactor capable of temperatures exceeding 1500 °C. The precursors of aluminum monochloride (AlCl) and aluminum trichloride (AlCl3) were used, and it was determined that AlCl3 was more thermodynamically conducive to single crystalline AlN growth at 1450 °C. AlN templates were optimized at a thickness of 1 µm without cracking. The double axis X‐ray diffraction (XRD) rocking curves full width half maximums (FWHMs) were reproducibly demonstrated with an average of 130 arcsec for the (002) and 516 arcsec for the (102). The AlN was transparent in the UV spectrum with a band gap cut off of 200 nm. (© 2014 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

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