Large-area graphene-based nanofiltration membranes by shear alignment of discotic nematic liquid crystals of graphene oxide.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 26947916.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/ncomms10891 and PMC identifier 4786680.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Graphene-based membranes demonstrating ultrafast water transport, precise molecular sieving of gas and solvated molecules shows great promise as novel separation platforms; however, scale-up of these membranes to large-areas remains an unresolved problem. Here we demonstrate that the discotic nematic phase of graphene oxide (GO) can be shear aligned to form highly ordered, continuous, thin films of multi-layered GO on a support membrane by an industrially adaptable method to produce large-area membranes (13 × 14 cm(2)) in <5 s. Pressure driven transport data demonstrate high retention (>90%) for charged and uncharged organic probe molecules with a hydrated radius above 5 Å as well as modest (30-40%) retention of monovalent and divalent salts. The highly ordered graphene sheets in the plane of the membrane make organized channels and enhance the permeability (71 ± 5 l m(-2) hr(-1) bar(-1) for 150 ± 15 nm thick membranes).