Nano-Porous Graphene as Free-Standing
Membranes
Asieh Sadat Kazemi and Mohammad Ali Abdol
Abstract Membrane-based treatments are superior to conventional processes in
water purification and desalination in terms of final water quality and smaller footprint. In addition, there are inherent weaknesses of state-of-the-art membranes
in reverse osmosis (RO) technology, thus there is pressing constraints for nextgeneration membranes. Nano-porous graphene membranes as the mother of novel
2D materials have attracted tremendous attention in the last decade in this regard, and
many theoretical and experimental attempts have been made towards the realization
of these membranes for water desalination. Advancements and challenges facing this
approach, research gaps and prospects that shed light on this field are explored in
this chapter.
Keywords Graphene · Nanopore · Desalination · Reverse osmosis
1 Introduction
Separation techniques based on membranes have major applications in water desalination [1–4], natural gas purification [5, 6], solvent- and petrochemical-based separations [7, 8], haemodialysis [9] and bioprocessing [10]. Beyond separations, membranes are used in drug delivery [9], bio/chemical sensors [11], fuel cells [12]
and energy harvesting [13]. The role of membrane-based treatment technologies in
water purification and desalination is undoubtedly unprecedented. These technologies produce water of superior quality and have a much smaller footprint compared
with conventional water treatment technologies [2], as they are inherently more
energy efficient than thermal approaches [14]. While thermal desalination technologies consume almost five times the energy used in current state-of-the-art reverse
A. S. Kazemi (B)
Department of Physics, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran
e-mail: asiehsadat_kazemi@iust.ac.ir
M. A. Abdol
Department of Advanced Technologies, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
R. Das (ed.), Two-Dimensional (2D) Nanomaterials in Separation Science,
Springer Series on Polymer and Composite Materials,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-72457-3_3
43
Membranes
Asieh Sadat Kazemi and Mohammad Ali Abdol
Abstract Membrane-based treatments are superior to conventional processes in
water purification and desalination in terms of final water quality and smaller footprint. In addition, there are inherent weaknesses of state-of-the-art membranes
in reverse osmosis (RO) technology, thus there is pressing constraints for nextgeneration membranes. Nano-porous graphene membranes as the mother of novel
2D materials have attracted tremendous attention in the last decade in this regard, and
many theoretical and experimental attempts have been made towards the realization
of these membranes for water desalination. Advancements and challenges facing this
approach, research gaps and prospects that shed light on this field are explored in
this chapter.
Keywords Graphene · Nanopore · Desalination · Reverse osmosis
1 Introduction
Separation techniques based on membranes have major applications in water desalination [1–4], natural gas purification [5, 6], solvent- and petrochemical-based separations [7, 8], haemodialysis [9] and bioprocessing [10]. Beyond separations, membranes are used in drug delivery [9], bio/chemical sensors [11], fuel cells [12]
and energy harvesting [13]. The role of membrane-based treatment technologies in
water purification and desalination is undoubtedly unprecedented. These technologies produce water of superior quality and have a much smaller footprint compared
with conventional water treatment technologies [2], as they are inherently more
energy efficient than thermal approaches [14]. While thermal desalination technologies consume almost five times the energy used in current state-of-the-art reverse
A. S. Kazemi (B)
Department of Physics, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran
e-mail: asiehsadat_kazemi@iust.ac.ir
M. A. Abdol
Department of Advanced Technologies, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
R. Das (ed.), Two-Dimensional (2D) Nanomaterials in Separation Science,
Springer Series on Polymer and Composite Materials,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-72457-3_3
43