Recent Developments in Graphene-Based Membranes: Structure, Mass-Transport Mechanism and Potential Applications

• Published in: Advanced materials (Weinheim) Vol. 28; no. 12; pp. 2287 - 2310
• Main Authors: Sun, Pengzhan, Wang, Kunlin, Zhu, Hongwei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Germany Blackwell Publishing Ltd 23-03-2016
• Subjects: Conductors; Desalination; Energy storage; Filtration; Graphene; mass transport; Membranes; Separation; Water purification; membranes; filtration; mass transport; separation; graphene
• ISSN: 0935-9648; 1521-4095
• DOI: 10.1002/adma.201502595

Significant achievements have been made on the development of next‐generation filtration and separation membranes using graphene materials, as graphene‐based membranes can afford numerous novel mass‐transport properties that are not possible in state‐of‐art commercial membranes, making them promising in areas such as membrane separation, water desalination, proton conductors, energy storage and conversion, etc. The latest developments on understanding mass transport through graphene‐based membranes, including perfect graphene lattice, nanoporous graphene and graphene oxide membranes are reviewed here in relation to their potential applications. A summary and outlook is further provided on the opportunities and challenges in this arising field. The aspects discussed may enable researchers to better understand the mass‐transport mechanism and to optimize the synthesis of graphene‐based membranes toward large‐scale production for a wide range of applications.
Novel mass transport through graphene‐based membranes, with respect to recent advances, is reviewed, including experimental discoveries and theoretical results. Knowledge of the present state of this topic will assist in a better understanding of the mass‐transport mechanism and optimization of the structural design of graphene porous materials toward production of controllable membranes for future applications in filtration, separation, water desalination, proton conductors, and energy storage, etc.