Desalination and Nanofiltration through Functionalized Laminar MoS2 Membranes

Wisit Hirunpinyopas, Eric Prestat, Stephen D Worrall, Sarah Haigh, |R Dryfe, Mark Bissett

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Laminar membranes of two-dimensional materials are excellent candidates for applications in water filtration due to the formation of nanocapillaries between individual crystals that can exhibit a molecular and ionic sieving effect, while allowing high water flux. This approach has been exemplified previously with graphene oxide, however these membranes suffer from swelling when exposed to liquid water, leading to low salt rejection and reducing their applicability for desalination applications. Here, we demonstrate that by producing thin (~5 µm) laminar membranes of exfoliated molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) in a straightforward and scalable process, followed by a simple chemical functionalization step, we can efficiently reject (~99%) of the ions commonly found in sea water, while maintaining water fluxes significantly higher (~5 times) than those reported for graphene oxide membranes. These functionalized MoS2 membranes exhibit excellent long-term stability with no swelling, and consequent decrease in ion rejection, when immersed in water for periods exceeding 6 months. Similar stability is observed when exposed to organic solvents, indicating that they are ideal for a variety of technologically important filtration applications.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)11082-11090
JournalACS Nano
Volume11
Issue number11
Early online date16 Oct 2017
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 28 Nov 2017

Bibliographical note

This is an open access article published under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY)
License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium,
provided the author and source are cited

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Desalination and Nanofiltration through Functionalized Laminar MoS2 Membranes'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this