The project aims to achieve a breakthrough in membrane technology by developing new porous piezoelectric ceramic structures with efficient antifouling capability, to be used as membranes for microfiltration in water and agro-food wastewater treatment. Antifouling enhancement will be pursued by optimizing the membrane architecture and exploiting the piezoelectric effect—namely the ability to induce membrane vibration through an alternating electric field—while ensuring non-toxicity, high piezoelectric performance, resistance to corrosive environments, and long-term selectivity and productivity at high feed concentrations. Moreover, due to the ultrasound internally generated due to piezoelectric properties of ceramic membranes, fouling can be further mitigated meanwhile filtering. For the first time, the project will also investigate the dipole alignment induced by electrical poling as a means to improve membrane selectivity. Understanding the role of remnant polarization will enable the development of tunable piezoelectric membranes and seed future molecular-sieve concepts.

Challenges will be addressed through an interdisciplinary approach to:

• design membrane architectures and fabrication routes to produce lead-free piezoelectric materials with microstructures tailored for microfiltration;
• test the membranes under relevant conditions, assessing productivity, selectivity and fouling index for different poling configurations and operating setups;
• study how porosity anisotropy and morphology influence piezoelectric properties and the chemophysical phenomena affecting performance.
• These goals require innovative manufacturing processes and dedicated tests on a prototypal system. For the first time, BCTZ-based lead-free piezoelectric ceramic membranes will be produced via freeze tape casting, impregnation, template removal and additive manufacturing. The work will be carried out by two teams coordinated by young researchers and supported by senior experts with complementary skills and strong international reputation.