Nanoporous graphene was proposed as an efficient material for reverse osmosis water desalination membranes because it allows water molecules to pass at high flux while rejecting hydrated salt ions. Nevertheless, from an experimental point of view it is still difficult to control the pore size. A scalable method to generate pores is urgently required for the diffusion of this technology. We propose, by theoretical calculations, an innovative and scalable strategy to better control the dimension of the pores in graphene-based membranes by reduction of single-layer graphene oxide (GO). The latter is first annealed at a controlled mild temperature to induce the aggregation of its randomly distributed oxygen-containing functional groups into small nanometric clusters. The layer then undergoes a high-temperature reducing treatment that causes the desorption of the functional groups along with carbon removal only in the oxidized areas, producing subnanometric pores while leaving unchanged the remaining pristine graphene areas.

Controlled Pore Generation in Single-Layer Graphene Oxide for Membrane Desalination / Raffone, F.; Savazzi, F.; Cicero, G.. - In: THE JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY LETTERS. - ISSN 1948-7185. - ELETTRONICO. - 10:23(2019), pp. 7492-7497. [10.1021/acs.jpclett.9b03255]

Controlled Pore Generation in Single-Layer Graphene Oxide for Membrane Desalination

Raffone F.;Savazzi F.;Cicero G.
2019

Abstract

Nanoporous graphene was proposed as an efficient material for reverse osmosis water desalination membranes because it allows water molecules to pass at high flux while rejecting hydrated salt ions. Nevertheless, from an experimental point of view it is still difficult to control the pore size. A scalable method to generate pores is urgently required for the diffusion of this technology. We propose, by theoretical calculations, an innovative and scalable strategy to better control the dimension of the pores in graphene-based membranes by reduction of single-layer graphene oxide (GO). The latter is first annealed at a controlled mild temperature to induce the aggregation of its randomly distributed oxygen-containing functional groups into small nanometric clusters. The layer then undergoes a high-temperature reducing treatment that causes the desorption of the functional groups along with carbon removal only in the oxidized areas, producing subnanometric pores while leaving unchanged the remaining pristine graphene areas.
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
acs.jpclett.9b03255.pdf

accesso riservato

Tipologia: 2a Post-print versione editoriale / Version of Record
Licenza: Non Pubblico - Accesso privato/ristretto
Dimensione 1.22 MB
Formato Adobe PDF
1.22 MB Adobe PDF   Visualizza/Apri   Richiedi una copia
Raffone_G_pore_formation.pdf

Open Access dal 18/11/2020

Tipologia: 2. Post-print / Author's Accepted Manuscript
Licenza: Pubblico - Tutti i diritti riservati
Dimensione 13.39 MB
Formato Adobe PDF
13.39 MB Adobe PDF Visualizza/Apri
jz9b03255_si_001.pdf

Open Access dal 18/11/2020

Tipologia: Altro materiale allegato
Licenza: Non Pubblico - Accesso privato/ristretto
Dimensione 44.13 MB
Formato Adobe PDF
44.13 MB Adobe PDF Visualizza/Apri
Pubblicazioni consigliate

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11583/2836172