Applied Materials Today
Volume 1, Issue 1, November 2015, Pages 1-12
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Review
Graphene oxide: the new membrane material

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apmt.2015.06.002Get rights and content

Abstract

A perfect molecular level separating unit for any kind of species to be filtered is on very high demand. In recent years, graphene oxide has emerged as an important material which can filter ions and molecules. This is an emerging field of research which has drawn extensive attention after the work by Nair et al. [1]. Following their work, various research groups started working in this area in last three years. Herein, we briefly review the recent development on graphene oxide membranes. This review is a summary of some very recent results and contributions made so far in this emerging research field. We have discussed recently developed mechanisms and models to understand the transport through GO based membranes. This review begins with a basic background on membrane technology followed by discussion related to developments of carbon materials based membrane technology. At the end we summarize advantages and disadvantages of membranes based on graphene oxide and discuss their future prospective.

Section snippets

Membranes

A membrane is considered as a barrier with an ability to allow the passage of certain species while blocks other depending on characteristics of the membrane and species to be filtered. Membrane technology is a rapidly growing research area with several real time applications such as desalination and water purification. Scientists and engineers have been working towards the development of this technology for a more cost-effective and a precise membrane. Indeed, there are already some

Current membranes

Traditionally, membranes have been classified in to two types and they are polymeric and membranes [2], [3], [4], [5], [6] and inorganic membranes [7], [8], [9], [10], [11], [12], [13], [14], [15]. However, it is hard to choose one amongst them as a preferred membrane based on their application, because each type of the membrane is accompanied with advantages and disadvantages. Such as, the polymeric membranes have high perm-selectivity and fast permeation, but they have limited resistance to

Membranes based on carbon materials

In the last decade, carbon nanotube (CNT) membranes attracted huge attention for possible filtration application [22], [23], [24], [25], [26], [27], [28], [29], [30], [31], [32]. Studies related to CNT membranes have certainly provided a breakthrough towards understanding the science associated with filtration mechanism. However, their application was limited due to the difficulties associated with making their inner diameter in atomic range which is also accompanied by a complex process to

Graphene oxide membranes

Recently, graphene oxide (GO) has emerged as excellent membrane material. In the year 2012 Nair et al., demonstrated that GO membrane allows un-impeded permeation of water whereas it blocks everything else in the vapor form [1]. However, their work does not ruled out the joint propagation of organic molecules dissolved in water through GO membrane. The ease in making atomically thin GO layers in the form of membrane provides an edge over other membranes for their practical applications.

Conclusions and future prospective:

Membranes that operate via the application of pressure were used in waste water treatment and in pharmaceuticals. In reality, a superior ultrafast membrane is expected to be extremely thin in order to have efficient (maximum) permeability and robust to tolerate the applied pressure. At present, there is an urgent need to develop speciality membrane that finds potential application in energy and environmental research. The speciality membranes to be developed for such application should exhibit

Acknowledgements

RKJ expresses his deep sense of gratitude towards Prof. Andre Geim and Dr. Rahul Nair of the University of Manchester. Prof. Geim introduced him to this very interesting field of research and Dr. Nair helped him throughout his training in membrane science and technology during Marie Curie International Incoming fellowship at the University of Manchester, U.K. RKJ acknowledges the faculty start up grant support from MSE at UNSW. SA acknowledges DST-SERB for the grant GAP 03/2014 to support his

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    Previous affiliation: Research Core for Interdisciplinary Sciences, Okayama University, Okayama, Japan

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