{"id":236572,"date":"2025-10-15T07:01:49","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T11:01:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=236572"},"modified":"2025-11-06T14:00:28","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T19:00:28","slug":"uconn-engineering-researchers-reducing-wave-radiation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2025\/10\/uconn-engineering-researchers-reducing-wave-radiation\/","title":{"rendered":"UConn Engineering Researchers Reducing Wave Radiation"},"content":{"rendered":"

The widespread use of electronic devices and wireless technologies in the modern world has led to an unprecedented level of exposure to electromagnetic (EM) wave radiation.\u00a0And,\u00a0some\u00a0studies have shown that long term or high-level exposure to this radiation can\u00a0impact\u00a0human health.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Fortunately, UConn College of Engineering researchers are working to understand the use of ion exchanged zeolites as electromagnetic wave absorbents\u00a0to combat these potentially adverse health effects.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Hands
Julia Valla holding a enlarged model of a zeolite structure (Christopher LaRosa \/ UConn College of Engineering)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Julia Valla, an associate professor in the chemical and biomolecular engineering department<\/a>, is researching zeolite structures to\u00a0determine\u00a0how they can\u00a0impact\u00a0\u00a0microwave\u00a0frequencies.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Valla, who is also the UConn Engineering Director of Graduate Studies<\/a>, is working closely\u00a0with her graduate students to complete this research\u00a0partially\u00a0sponsored by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBased on our results, we will identify the\u00a0most\u00a0promising zeolites\u00a0and recommend their use to\u00a0the AFRL,\u201d Valla says. \u201cBeyond\u00a0reducing the negative impact of EM\u00a0wave\u00a0radiation\u00a0to the human population, our research may aid the Air Force by\u00a0opening up research opportunities for lightweight\u00a0radar-absorbing material for aircraft and naval vessels, enhancing their ability to evade detection.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Zeolites are usually\u00a0microporous, crystalline minerals\u00a0containing\u00a0silicon, aluminum, and oxygen.\u00a0They are naturally occurring and have been used in the past to absorb toxic materials in the body for drug delivery,\u00a0and also\u00a0to reduce radioactive exposure, such as\u00a0in first responders of the Chernobyl incident.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Specifically, Valla and her team are studying the structures of\u00a0Faujasite, Mordenite, Mordenite Framework Inverted, and Linde Type A zeolites.\u00a0Valla is studying the interaction\u00a0and response of physiochemical properties and\u00a0characteristics of the four zeolite structures\u00a0on the absorption, reflection, and\u00a0transmission\u00a0of waves.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"A
Zeolites are usually microporous, crystalline minerals containing silicon, aluminum, and oxygen (Christopher LaRosa \/ UConn College of Engineering)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The study uses an\u00a0integrated computational and experimental\u00a0approach,\u00a0various\u00a0ions exchanged in the zeolite structures and measurements of dielectric properties in a wide frequency range from 500MHz to 50GHz.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Selected ions include Ni, Ce, and Cu, and the zeolite structure can be easily finetuned by adding different metals.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Valla hopes to\u00a0identify\u00a0the effect of various structural characteristics like surface area, pore size, and pore distribution, as well as water and\u00a0aluminum\u00a0content on the dielectric properties of the zeolites.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Vladimir\u00a0Marosz, a Ph.D. candidate in chemical engineering, says the zeolite material is especially lightweight and low-density.\u00a0Depending on follow-up research and how specific coatings might be created,\u00a0Marosz\u00a0says\u00a0airplanes and CubeSats might be the most realistic applications.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Marosz\u00a0also thanked\u00a0the UConn College of Engineering Innovation Shop<\/a> for their work in supporting this research.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOn our dielectric probe, the machine shop designed a bracket to hold the coaxial probe in place,\u201d Marosz says. \u201cBecause of that, the probe is supported on two sides. There is zero lateral movement while the EM waves emit, ensuring proper contact with the zeolite sample.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Beyond\u00a0reducing the negative impact of EM\u00a0wave\u00a0radiation\u00a0to the human population, this research may aid the Air Force by\u00a0opening up research opportunities for lightweight\u00a0radar-absorbing material for aircraft and naval vessels<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":185,"featured_media":236575,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1866,2460,2459,2076,1875,2235],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2445],"class_list":["post-236572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-engr","category-faculty","category-graduate-students","category-research","category-grad-school","category-today-homepage"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-19 20:30:12","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/185"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236572"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236572\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":237647,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236572\/revisions\/237647"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/236575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236572"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=236572"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=236572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}