An Ultrahigh-Flux Nanoporous Graphene Membrane for Sustainable Seawater Desalination using Low-Grade Heat

Dongwei Lu*, Zhongyao Zhou, Zhihong Wang, Duc Tam Ho, Guan Sheng, Long Chen, Yumeng Zhao, Xiang Li, Li Cao, Udo Schwingenschlögl, Jun Ma, Zhiping Lai*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

14 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Membrane distillation has attracted great attention in the development of sustainable desalination and zero-discharge processes because of its possibility of recovering 100% water and the potential for integration with low-grade heat, such as solar energy. However, the conventional membrane structures and materials afford limited flux thus obstructing its practical application. Here, ultrathin nanoporous graphene membranes are reported by selectively forming thin graphene layers on the top edges of a highly porous anodic alumina oxide support, which creates short and fast transport pathways for water vapor but not liquid. The process avoids the challenging pore-generation and substrate-transfer processes required to prepare regular graphene membranes. In the direct-contact membrane distillation mode under a mild temperature pair of 65/25 °C, the nanoporous graphene membranes show an average water flux of 421.7 L m−2 h−1 with over 99.8% salt rejection, which is an order of magnitude higher than any reported polymeric membranes. The mechanism for high water flux is revealed by detailed characterizations and theoretical modeling. Outdoor field tests using water from the Red Sea heated under direct sunlight radiation show that the membranes have an average water flux of 86.3 L m−2 h−1 from 8 am to 8 pm, showing a great potential for real applications in seawater desalination.
Original languageEnglish
Article number2109718
Number of pages10
JournalAdvanced Materials
Volume34
Issue number11
Early online date6 Jan 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 17 Mar 2022
Externally publishedYes

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