• 文献标题:   Electrochemical Opening of Impermeable Nanochannels in Laminar Graphene Membranes for Ultrafast Nanofiltration
  • 文献类型:   Article, Early Access
  • 作  者:   WEI GL, DU L, ZHANG HG, XING JJ, CHEN S, QUAN X
  • 作者关键词:   graphene, membrane, electricity, hydrogen bond, interlayer spacing
  • 出版物名称:   ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY
  • ISSN:   0013-936X EI 1520-5851
  • 通讯作者地址:  
  • 被引频次:   0
  • DOI:   10.1021/acs.est.2c07158 EA FEB 2023
  • 出版年:   2023

▎ 摘  要

Reduced graphene oxide (rGO) could be theoretically used to construct highly permeable laminar membranes with nearly frictionless nanochannels for water treatment. However, their pristine (sp2 C-C) regions usually restack into impermeable channels as a result of van der Waals interactions, resulting in a much low permeance. In this study, we demonstrate that the restacked regions could be electrochemically expanded to form ultrafast water transport nanochannels by providing a low positive potential (e.g., +1.00 V vs SCE) to the rGO membrane. Experimental investigations indicate that the structural expansion is attributed to the intercalation of water molecules into the restacked regions, driven by hydrogen bond interactions between water molecules and hydroxyl groups that are electrochemically produced on edges of rGO nanosheets. The structural expansion could be promoted by weakening the graphene-OH- interactions through intermittent application of the potential. As a result of more ultrafast water transport nanochannels available, the electrochemically treated rGO membranes could have a permeance 2 orders of magnitude higher than that of the pristine one and similar to 3 times higher than that of graphene oxide membranes. Because of their smaller average pore size, the rGO membranes also have a higher ionic/molecular rejection performance than graphene oxide membranes.