176
S. Majidi et al.
other pore types at the applied pressures ranging up to 50 MPa. Actually, partial
charges of membrane atoms as well as hydrophobicity/hydrophilicity properties of
the membranes can affect the water permeability and salt rejection factors.
All of the above studies exhibited that water can permeate through the porous
BNNSs, while ion transport can be blocked due to the larger size of the ion hydration
shell compared to the molecular size of membrane pore.
3.2 Simulation of h-BN in Pollutants Adsorption Applications
Srivastava et al. [75] represented that the BNNSs are a promising material for
removing arsenic ions from water. They performed MD simulations to study the
adsorption capacity of As
3+ on BN and graphene nanosheets. The simulation system
was assumed as an aqueous solution of As(NO 3 ) 3 ionic salts, which comprising 3000
water molecules and the number of As
3+ ions varying from 3 to 38 depending on ion
concentration. All the MD simulations were performed by the LAMMPS package
and the periodic boundary conditions were used in the three directions.
They found that the adsorption of arsenic ions follows the Langmuir isotherm. The
results exhibited that the adsorption capacity of As
3+ increases with rising ion concentration, which is greater on the BNNSs compared to graphene nanosheets. Additionally, the lower value of diffusion coefficient of As
3+ ions on BNNSs compared to
graphene indicated strong adsorption behavior of As
3+ ions on BNNSs. The potential
of mean force (PMF) calculations was also conducted, which depicted two distinct
minima, the first one close the nanosheet is called the contact minima of ion and
nanosheet, and the next one is called the solvent layer separated minima. The hBN nanosheet showed lower contact minima for arsenic ion in comparison with
graphene nanosheet, which demonstrated sturdy interaction between arsenic ion and
BNNSs. These results disclosed BNNS is a preferable adsorbent relating to graphene
nanosheet in the field of arsenic ions removing from water.
4 Experimental Work
4.1 Application of h-BN as Membrane Filtration in Water
Treatment
Recently, considerable efforts have been given to investigate the improvement of
water permeability by developing the new nanomaterial [76, 77]. This section highlights the performance of h-BN membrane in the field of water treatment and investigates the regeneration of h-BN for reusing. The composite membrane with extremely
high separation performance based on porous BNNSs was developed by Liu et al.
[78]. They examined Polyvinylidene fluoride/BNNS (PVDF/BNNS) composite on
S. Majidi et al.
other pore types at the applied pressures ranging up to 50 MPa. Actually, partial
charges of membrane atoms as well as hydrophobicity/hydrophilicity properties of
the membranes can affect the water permeability and salt rejection factors.
All of the above studies exhibited that water can permeate through the porous
BNNSs, while ion transport can be blocked due to the larger size of the ion hydration
shell compared to the molecular size of membrane pore.
3.2 Simulation of h-BN in Pollutants Adsorption Applications
Srivastava et al. [75] represented that the BNNSs are a promising material for
removing arsenic ions from water. They performed MD simulations to study the
adsorption capacity of As
3+ on BN and graphene nanosheets. The simulation system
was assumed as an aqueous solution of As(NO 3 ) 3 ionic salts, which comprising 3000
water molecules and the number of As
3+ ions varying from 3 to 38 depending on ion
concentration. All the MD simulations were performed by the LAMMPS package
and the periodic boundary conditions were used in the three directions.
They found that the adsorption of arsenic ions follows the Langmuir isotherm. The
results exhibited that the adsorption capacity of As
3+ increases with rising ion concentration, which is greater on the BNNSs compared to graphene nanosheets. Additionally, the lower value of diffusion coefficient of As
3+ ions on BNNSs compared to
graphene indicated strong adsorption behavior of As
3+ ions on BNNSs. The potential
of mean force (PMF) calculations was also conducted, which depicted two distinct
minima, the first one close the nanosheet is called the contact minima of ion and
nanosheet, and the next one is called the solvent layer separated minima. The hBN nanosheet showed lower contact minima for arsenic ion in comparison with
graphene nanosheet, which demonstrated sturdy interaction between arsenic ion and
BNNSs. These results disclosed BNNS is a preferable adsorbent relating to graphene
nanosheet in the field of arsenic ions removing from water.
4 Experimental Work
4.1 Application of h-BN as Membrane Filtration in Water
Treatment
Recently, considerable efforts have been given to investigate the improvement of
water permeability by developing the new nanomaterial [76, 77]. This section highlights the performance of h-BN membrane in the field of water treatment and investigates the regeneration of h-BN for reusing. The composite membrane with extremely
high separation performance based on porous BNNSs was developed by Liu et al.
[78]. They examined Polyvinylidene fluoride/BNNS (PVDF/BNNS) composite on