Abstract
The inability of membranes to handle a wide spectrum of pollutants is an important unsolved problem for water treatment. Here we demonstrate water desalination via a membrane distillation process using a graphene membrane where water permeation is enabled by nanochannels of multilayer, mismatched, partially overlapping graphene grains. Graphene films derived from renewable oil exhibit significantly superior retention of water vapour flux and salt rejection rates, and a superior antifouling capability under a mixture of saline water containing contaminants such as oils and surfactants, compared to commercial distillation membranes. Moreover, real-world applicability of our membrane is demonstrated by processing sea water from Sydney Harbour over 72 h with macroscale membrane size of 4 cm2, processing ~0.5 L per day. Numerical simulations show that the channels between the mismatched grains serve as an effective water permeation route. Our research will pave the way for large-scale graphene-based antifouling membranes for diverse water treatment applications.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 683 |
Pages (from-to) | 1-12 |
Number of pages | 12 |
Journal | Nature Communications |
Volume | 9 |
Issue number | 1 |
Early online date | 14 Feb 2018 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 14 Feb 2018 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Chemistry(all)
- Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology(all)
- Physics and Astronomy(all)
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Ming Xie
- Department of Chemical Engineering - Lecturer
- Centre for Integrated Materials, Processes & Structures (IMPS)
- EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Advanced Automotive Propulsion Systems (AAPS CDT)
Person: Research & Teaching, Core staff, Affiliate staff