Water desalination by charged multilayer graphene membrane: A molecular dynamics simulation

V Mortazavi and A Moosavi and A Nouri-Borujerdi, JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR LIQUIDS, 355, 118953 (2022).

DOI: 10.1016/j.molliq.2022.118953

Graphene, due to its unique excellent properties, is proposed as a developing method with high efficiency compared to classical water desalination methods. In this regard, charging the membrane is considered a promising and effective approach to enhance the performance of the graphene membrane. In this research, by using molecular dynamics simulations, the water desalination by charged multilayer graphene is evaluated and the influence of electric charge amount and geometric parameters, including the pore diameter and the interlayer distance, are investigated. According to the results, the multilayer nanoporous graphene with 16.35 A pore diameter, in which the electric charge is distributed with the proper amount and particular arrangement on the carbon atoms on the periphery of the pores, shows a significant enhancement of 59.4% in the water flow rate and improves the salt rejection efficiency from 67.27% to the desired value of 94.54%, compared to the uncharged multilayer graphene with 12.6 A pore diameter. Moreover, it is demonstrated that increasing the interlayer distance of the membrane diminishes the effect of electric charge on improving the water flux.(c) 2022 Published by Elsevier B.V.

Return to Publications page