Anti-fouling graphene-based membranes for effective water desalination

Seo, DH; Pineda, S; Woo, YC; Xie, M; Murdock, AT; Ang, EYM; Jiao, Y; Park, MJ; Lim, SI; Lawn, M; Borghi, FF; Han, ZJ; Gray, S; Millar, G; Du, A; Shon, HK; Ng, TY; Ostrikov, K

Anti-fouling graphene-based membranes for effective water desalination

Seo, DH Pineda, S Woo, YC

Xie, M Murdock, AT Ang, EYM Jiao, Y Park, MJ Lim, SI

Lawn, M Borghi, FF Han, ZJ Gray, S Millar, G Du, A Shon, HK

Ng, TY Ostrikov, K

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Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Nature Communications, 2018, 9 (1)
Issue Date:: 2018-12-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Seo, DH	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Pineda, S	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Woo, YC https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0847-3067	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Xie, M	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Murdock, AT	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Ang, EYM	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Jiao, Y	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Park, MJ	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Lim, SI https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9253-3693	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Lawn, M	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Borghi, FF	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Han, ZJ	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Gray, S	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Millar, G	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Du, A	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Shon, HK https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3777-7169	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Ng, TY	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Ostrikov, K	en_US
dc.date.available	2018-01-05	en_US
dc.date.issued	2018-12-01	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Nature Communications, 2018, 9 (1)	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/127260
dc.description.abstract	© 2018 The Author(s). 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 cm 2 , 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.	en_US
dc.relation	http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/FT140101208
dc.relation.ispartof	Nature Communications	en_US
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1038/s41467-018-02871-3	en_US
dc.title	Anti-fouling graphene-based membranes for effective water desalination	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	1	en_US
utslib.citation.volume	9	en_US
utslib.for	0912 Materials Engineering	en_US
utslib.for	0502 Environmental Science and Management	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology/School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Strength - CTWW - Centre for Technology in Water and Wastewater Treatment
utslib.copyright.status	open_access
pubs.issue	1	en_US
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US
pubs.volume	9	en_US

Abstract:

© 2018 The Author(s). 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 cm 2 , 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.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/127260