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Proof-of-Concept for Gas-Entrapping Membranes Derived from Water-Loving SiO2/Si/SiO2 Wafers for Green Desalination
Published on: March 1, 2020
Challenges and opportunities in functional carbon nanotubes for membrane-based water treatment and desalination
Sharafat Ali1, Syed Aziz Ur Rehman1, Hong-Yan Luan1
1State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, No. 19, Xinjiekouwai Street, Beijing 100875, China.
Abstract:
Environmental applications of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have grabbed worldwide attentions due to their excellent adsorption capacities and promising physical, chemical and mechanical properties. The functionalization of CNTs, which involves chemical/physical modification of pristine CNTs with different types of functional groups, improves the capabilities of CNT for desalination and/or removals of waterborne contaminants. This paper intends to provide a comprehensive review of functional CNT materials (f-CNT) and their existing and potential applications in membrane-based water treatment and desalination processes, with focuses on critical evaluation of advances, knowledge gaps and future research directions. CNT nanocomposite membranes have been studied at bench scale to efficiently remove a variety of waterborne contaminants and salts, while future improvement is under way with development in CNT functionalization techniques. The CNT-based membrane applications are found to possess a variety of advantages, including improve water permeability, high selectivity and antifouling capability. However, their applications at full scale are still limited by their high cost. Finally, we highlight that f-CNT membranes with promising removal efficiencies for respective contaminants be considered for commercialization and to achieve holistic performance for the purpose of water treatment and desalination.
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