Ultrathin graphene-based membrane with precise molecular sieving and ultrafast solvent permeation

Yang, Qiong; Su, Yang; Chi, Chenglong; Cherian, Christie Thomas; Huang, Kun; Kravets, V. G.; Wang, FengChao; Zhang, J. C.; Pratt, Andrew; Григоренко, А. Н.; Guinea, F.; Geǐm, A. K.; Nair, R. R.

doi:10.1038/nmat5025

Cited by 608 publications

(535 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…In recent years, in order to achieve SRNF membranes with high permeability and stability, many nanomaterials including graphene, Mxene, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have been applied to fabricate SRNF membranes [8]. Among these nanomaterials, MOFs often exhibit a poor chemical stability and more suitable for use in gas barrier applications [9][10][11][12][13] attentions due to their unique physicochemical properties, which has been proved in our experiments and elsewhere [14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. The unique two-dimensional (2D) structure and the good stability in organic solvents endow graphene nanomaterials to be an ideal candidate for creating novel membranes [15,[21][22][23].…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 51%

Fabrication of Graphene-based Membranes for Solvent-resistant Nanofiltration

Song³

et al. 2018

IOP Conf. Ser.: Earth Environ. Sci.

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Abstract. Solvent-resistant nanofiltration (SRNF) is a promising technology which developed rapidly in recent years, which exhibits broader application prospects in separation of industries organic solvent system. Among various materials used for SRNF-membranes, graphene-based nanomaterials have aroused great interests due to the unique molecular sieve properties and excellent tolerance to organic solvents and harsh chemical environments. This paper emphatically introduces the progresses of membrane preparation with graphene-based nanomaterials for SRNF and their application in separation processes. The performances including permeability and stability of different kinds of graphene-based SRNF membranes in the process of filtration are also evaluated and discussed. IntroductionMembrane processes are typical advanced technology for selective separation and play an important role in water and wastewater treatment [1]. Among them, nanofiltration membranes usually show high performance in the rejection of bivalent and polyvalent ions under low operation pressure [2]. As we know, the amount of chemicals in the modern world and the conventional intensive energy in separation processes have caused the total quantity of energy for chemical products separation to be astonishing, accounted for 10-15% of the world's total energy consumption [3]. To deal with the multifarious and massive organic solution in practical applications, the solvent-resistant nanofiltration (SRNF) membranes with high permeability and stability are highly desirable [4][5][6].In general, an ideal SRNF membrane should have the following characteristics: (1) high solvent flux and separation performance in organic solvent system; (2) high separation efficiency and structural stability during long-time operation; (3) the synthesized SRNF membranes are suitable for wide solvent separation in industrial application [7]. In recent years, in order to achieve SRNF membranes with high permeability and stability, many nanomaterials including graphene, Mxene, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have been applied to fabricate SRNF membranes [8]. Among these nanomaterials, MOFs often exhibit a poor chemical stability and more suitable for use in gas barrier applications [9][10][11][12][13]. Compared with MOFs, grapheme-based materials have attracted numerous

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 51%

Fabrication of Graphene-based Membranes for Solvent-resistant Nanofiltration

Song³

et al. 2018

IOP Conf. Ser.: Earth Environ. Sci.

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“…Several previously published studies suggested that permeation of membranes is controlled by the distance between graphene oxide layers provided by swelling and by the size of molecules in hydrated state. [63][64] Our experiments demonstrate that intercalation of sugars into GO structure occurs in not hydrated state. At least partial dehydration of molecules is required in order to explain observed inter-layer distance of ~9.5-10 Å in solution immersed BGO.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 65%

“…[32] Swelling in polar solvents is one of the most remarkable properties of graphite oxides and multilayered graphene oxide membranes/papers. [4,29,[34][35][36] Swelling is of key importance for almost all applications of GO, e.g. dispersion of GO in solutions, solution based chemical functionalization of GO, preparation of pillared porous GO materials, [32,[37][38][39] preparation of graphene oxide membranes and their permeation in filtration experiments.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Graphite oxide swelling in molten sugar alcohols and their aqueous solutions

Klechikov

You

Lackner

et al. 2018

Carbon

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“…. As considerable progress has been achieved for GO laminates in water, the exploration of graphene-based laminates for OSN is of great significance due to the instability of polymeric membranes in an organic solvent, yet has been lacking because of the impermeability of organic solvent through sub-micrometer-thick GO membranes. Recently, Nair group optimized GO laminar structure and demonstrated the potential of ultrathin GO membranes for OSN by achieving >99.9% rejection of small organic dyes in methanol [11], thus opening up a new world of filtration and separation for graphene-based membranes.…”

Section: Graphene-based Membranes For Organic Solvent Nanofiltrationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Graphene-based membranes for organic solvent nanofiltration

Zhu

2018

Sci. China Mater.

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Different from the conventional polymeric separation membranes having a wide flexible-pore size distribution, layered graphene-based films with interconnected nanochannels provide narrowly well-defined nanopore-size distribution and thus are extremely advantageous for precise liquid filtration and separation. Recently, considerable progress has been achieved in graphene-based membranes for molecular sieving in water. For example, it was found that sub-micrometer-thick graphene oxide (GO) membranes were almost impermeable to liquids, vapors, or gases but allowed unimpeded permeation of water [1] because of the nearly frictionless flow of water molecules through the two-dimensional hydrophobic nonoxidized capillaries. Moreover, it was further demonstrated that GO membranes could act as molecular sieves to block all solutes with hydrated radii > 0.45 nm when immersed in water [2], in which size exclusion appears to account for this behavior. For smaller sizefitted solutes that can enter in nanochannels, GO membrane could achieve more accurate ion selectivity via the diverse interactions between ions and sp 2 clusters or oxygen-containing functional groups on GO basal planes [3].The findings mentioned above implicate that GO membranes are extremely promising for a broad spectrum of separation due to their tunability in pore size to remove various target solutes, including expansion by inserting large spacers and decrease by reducing, crosslinking, etc. [4]. Consequently, most existing studies focused on the adjustment of pore structure for high flux and retention. The representative novel nanostrandchanneled GO membrane exhibited 10-time higher permeance than the conventional polymeric separation membranes [5]. However, graphene-based membranes confronted with some crucial challenges in practical industrial applications, such as scale-up of membranes to large-area, the narrow interlayer spacing in water for highly effective desalination, molecular transport mechanism confined in nanocapillaries, stability in water for long periods of time, especially graphene-based membranes used for organic solvent nanofiltration (OSN).Over the past two years, some successes have been achieved in these aspects. Large-area GO membranes were accessible by an industrially adaptable method of blade coating, which aligned the discotic nematic phase of GO on a porous support [6]. The highly ordered GO membranes formed organized channels and demonstrated outstanding water permeability. Another alternative method is spray coating GO aqueous dispersion and few-layered graphene to yield robust membranes that are easy and scalable to produce [7]. The hybrid layered membranes maintained effective NaCl rejection near 85% and 96% for an anionic dye. The achievement of 97% high rejection for NaCl is a significant breakthrough due to the controllable limited swelling of GO laminates in water [8]. The ion permeation rates were found to decrease exponentially with decreasing sieve size because of dehydration effects whereas water transport was sligh...

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Ultrathin graphene-based membrane with precise molecular sieving and ultrafast solvent permeation

Cited by 608 publications

References 29 publications

Fabrication of Graphene-based Membranes for Solvent-resistant Nanofiltration

Fabrication of Graphene-based Membranes for Solvent-resistant Nanofiltration

Graphite oxide swelling in molten sugar alcohols and their aqueous solutions

Graphene-based membranes for organic solvent nanofiltration

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