Physics World  June 24, 2019
Porous graphene sheets have excellent filtration capabilities and can block most ions, but their fragility limits their scale-up beyond laboratory demonstrations. An international team of researchers (China, USA – UCLA) has developed a way to create centimetre-sized sheets of porous graphene that do not suffer from the effects of defects. This was done by depositing a mesh-like network of single-walled carbon nanotubes on top of a graphene sheet, which essentially reinforces the material and blocks the spread of cracks and tears. Then the pores are etched in the material to create a desalination membrane. When tested, the team’s membranes could remove between 85-97% of salt from seawater…read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLEÂ
Freshwater: a new graphene-based membrane could someday be used in commercial desalination plants. Credit: Quan Yuan