Abstract: Environmental pollutions due to the toxic gases, elements and pathogenic species are a serious problem with harmful effects on plants, animals, and human health. Achieving proper designs of nanosensors for highly sensitive and selective detection and removal of extremely hazardous materials is one of the crucial issues in our laboratory. Our main interest is not only to make nanotechnological designs-based nanomaterials but also to reduce the production cost and to expand their potential on-site and real-time measurements. El-Safty and Co-workers designed of nanopackages-based mesocage mosaic, core/double-shell, nanosheets, hollow sphere and nanowires metal oxides for capturing and monitoring toxic agents to protect human health and improve the environmental quality. However, we developed rapid easy-handling and cheap nanosensors for visual detection and removal of toxic metals from water and wastewater treatment systems, which are major public health challenges in world wide. Our optical mesoporous sensors show ability to create simultaneous designs for complete removal of extremely toxic metals such as As(V), Hg (II), Cd(II), Pb(II), Cr(VI), Zn(II) ions and etc.., with indoor and outdoor responses, and with revisable, selective and sensitive recognition of these toxic metals. Toward the challenging subject of radiaoactive monitoring and separation after the recent disaster of the nuclear plants at Fukushima Diaichi, JAPAN (March, 11, 2011), El-Safty and co-workers developed simple processing and captors-based nanomaterials for separation of the radioactive of Iodine (¹³¹I₂), strontium (⁸⁵Sr), cesium (¹³⁷Cs), cerium (¹⁴⁴Ce) and cobalt (⁶⁰Co) in aqueous and marine water. Our technology is not only enabled the ultra-trace concentrating collection of ¹³⁷Cs, ⁸⁵Sr and ¹³¹I₂ radio-elements but also led to decreasing capacity, and managing of these radioactive elements. Moreover, the nanocapture material can be repeatedly recycled. Significantly, the color of the nano-capture material changes when
the radio-element is adsorbed. Therefore, it is possible not only had to be captured the element effectively but also to be used to detect radioactive elements by visualization. Recently, we have successfully fabricated nanopackage gas sensors. The patterned design based on nanosized WO₃, Co₂O₃, SnO₂ and NiO oxides enabled the detection of extremely toxic nitrogen dioxide and volatile organic compounds VOCs. The principal design of the nanopackages relies on the enhancement of total-volume-exposure of sensing materials to the analytic gases. The key component of this design is that the gas nanosensors can offer ultra-sensitive and selective detection of nitrogen dioxide at a low level concentration among carbon monoxide, and VOCs, such as acetone, benzene, and ethanol. We expected this nanopackage sensors can revolutionize the consumer and industrial market in environmental pollution monitoring, transportation, security, defense, space missions, energy, agriculture, and medicine.

Brief Biography of the Speaker:
Sherif A. El-Safty obtained his Ph.D. in 2000 under supervision of Professor John Evans, School of Chemistry, Southampton University, UK. He was appointed as a Lecturer at Chemistry Department, University of Tanta, Egypt. In 2005, he became an Associate Professor in the same University. From 2001 to 2007, he was granted several positions to work at National institute of Advanced Industrial Science and technology (AIST), Sendai-Japan as JSPS Post-doctor, AIST Research Scientists, JSPS Visiting Professor, respectively. In 2008, He became a Senior Researcher at National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), Japan, leading an independent group of nano-dynamic materials designs (NDMD) that actively support the goal of the nano-technological materials for environmental cleanup system. Concurrently, he has appointed as Professor at Waseda University, Japan, in major Nanoscience and Nano-Engineering in 2010. His research interests focus on the Multiple Nano-dynamic Designs that provide efficient, one-site, broad range processes in the same time. These processes are in demand for security monitoring in the global world. He developed various nanomaterials with advanced geometrical morphologies, such as high ordered mesoporous monoliths, mesoporous nanosheets, meso-/macro- porous nanorods, nanotubes, nanowires, hollow spheres and nanocomposites for environmental monitoring and cleanup systems. He established low cost extraction system based on nanoscale HOM (High-Order-Mesoporous Monolith) materials of rare earth metals from urban concentrate as secondary resources in Japan. He successfully designed simple, easy-to-use, and reliable nanocaptors for decontamination of radioactive elements in Fukushima Diaiichi, Japan from water and wastewater. His research work had received increasing interests from the international/national scientific communities, in addition to be highlighted in the public and scientific Newspapers, Magazines and NHK Television for several times.