Carbon nanotube membranes with ultrahigh specific adsorption capacity for water desalination and purification

Hui Ying Yang (), Zhao Jun Han, Siu Fung Yu, Kin Leong Pey, Kostya Ostrikov and Rohit Karnik
Additional contact information
Hui Ying Yang: Pillar of Engineering Product Development, Singapore University of Technology and Design
Zhao Jun Han: CSIRO Materials Science and Engineering
Siu Fung Yu: Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Kin Leong Pey: Pillar of Engineering Product Development, Singapore University of Technology and Design
Kostya Ostrikov: CSIRO Materials Science and Engineering
Rohit Karnik: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Nature Communications, 2013, vol. 4, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract Development of technologies for water desalination and purification is critical to meet the global challenges of insufficient water supply and inadequate sanitation, especially for point-of-use applications. Conventional desalination methods are energy and operationally intensive, whereas adsorption-based techniques are simple and easy to use for point-of-use water purification, yet their capacity to remove salts is limited. Here we report that plasma-modified ultralong carbon nanotubes exhibit ultrahigh specific adsorption capacity for salt (exceeding 400% by weight) that is two orders of magnitude higher than that found in the current state-of-the-art activated carbon-based water treatment systems. We exploit this adsorption capacity in ultralong carbon nanotube-based membranes that can remove salt, as well as organic and metal contaminants. These ultralong carbon nanotube-based membranes may lead to next-generation rechargeable, point-of-use potable water purification appliances with superior desalination, disinfection and filtration properties.

Date: 2013
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms3220 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:4:y:2013:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms3220

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms3220

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().