Novel nanomaterials for water desalination technology

Abstract

Water desalination has a central role to play in the global challenge for sustainable water supply in the 21st century. But while the membranes employed in reverse osmosis (RO) have benefited from substantial improvements over the past 25 years, several recent advances in materials suggest that new membranes with dramatically higher water permeability will become available in the future. After providing an overview of the importance of membranes for sustainable water production, we describe some of the most exciting novel approaches for water desalination based on nanomaterials. In particular, graphene, a single-layer sheet of carbon with remarkable mechanical and electronic properties, can be patterned with nanometer-sized pores, to act as an ultra-thin filtration membrane. Drawing from our group's research at MIT, we will share some of our key findings about the potential impact of nanomaterials as membranes for water desalination in the 21st century.