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posted by Fnord666 on Monday April 03 2017, @11:32PM   Printer-friendly
from the Water-water-everwhere dept.

The BBC reports:

A UK-based team of researchers has created a graphene-based sieve capable of removing salt from seawater.

Manufacturing graphene-based barriers on an industrial scale has been a problem in the past, but this new sieve promises to be more affordable, yet still effective in filtering salts, and will now be tested against existing desalination membranes.

Reporting their results in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, scientists from the University of Manchester, led by Dr Rahul Nair, shows how they solved some of the challenges by using a chemical derivative called graphene oxide.

Isolated and characterised by a University of Manchester-led team in 2004, graphene comprises a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice. Its unusual properties, such as extraordinary tensile strength and electrical conductivity, have earmarked it as one of the most promising materials for future applications.

[...] Previous work had shown that graphene oxide membranes became slightly swollen when immersed in water, allowing smaller salts to flow through the pores along with water molecules.

Now, Dr Nair and colleagues demonstrated that placing walls made of epoxy resin (a substance used in coatings and glues) on either side of the graphene oxide membrane was sufficient to stop the expansion.


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by butthurt on Monday April 03 2017, @11:50PM

    by butthurt (6141) on Monday April 03 2017, @11:50PM (#488443) Journal

    The BBC article quotes one of the researchers as saying

    This is our first demonstration that we can control the spacing [of pores in the membrane] and that we can do desalination, which was not possible before.

    The words in square brackets are the BBC's and I think they're erroneous. The abstract of the journal article uses the word "laminates" and the figures show that the water flows between sheets of graphene oxide.

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