Using Graphene to convert seawater into drink water

Using Graphene to convert seawater into drink water

Lack of water faces many people all over the world as the United Nations expects 14% of the world’s population to encounter water scarcity By 2025. so man researching to find new ways to get water, A British team of researchers has created a graphene sieve capable of removing salt from seawater with highly efficient at filtering salts compared with existing desalination membranes now desalination plants around the world use polymer-based membranes, This team from the University of Manchester led by Dr Rahul Nair, shows how they solved some of the challenges by using Graphene Oxide (GO).

The challenge is to make it permeable, you need to drill small holes in the membrane, but if the hole size is larger than one nanometre, the salts go through that hole .. so it makes the mission harder

Why Use Graphene Oxide (GO)?

Graphene Oxide can be produced by simple oxidation in the lab, In terms of scalability and the cost of the material, graphene oxide has a potential advantage over single-layered graphene.
Because the current production routes are highly costly single-layer graphene using existing methods, such as Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD). it is difficult to produce large quantities of it and the price will be expensive!
Graphene oxide (GO) membranes have already proven their worth in sieving out small nanoparticles, organic molecules, and large salts. Until now, they could not be used to filter out common salts, which require smaller sieves.
Now scientists hope to develop and produce graphene oxide membranes inexpensively at industrial scales, demonstrate the durability of the membranes under prolonged contact with seawater, and ensure the membrane is resistant to “fouling” by salts and biological material, which require the barriers to be periodically cleaned or replaced, with minimal energy input for the filtration system.