Using Graphene To Turn Seawater Into Drinking Water

Graphene continues to amaze me as researchers around the world further explore the possible applications for the material. We continue to see creative and innovative ways that this material can be used to improve our standard of living. And now researchers in the UK have been able to use graphene to turn seawater into drinking water.

The researchers in the UK used a graphene-based sieve and they have been able to successfully remove salt from seawater.

This is huge! This could prove to be an amazing and cost effective tool that could help to enable millions of people around the world to find drinkable water. The graphene oxide sieve is now being tested against already existing desalination membranes.

The results from the study have been published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology by researchers from the University of Manchester.

In their study they demonstrate how they have already gone ahead and solved some of the challenges in carrying-out the process, by using a chemical derivative: graphene oxide.

The researchers say that the graphene oxide can be produced very easily by simple oxidation in a lab setting. Whereas traditionally it has been quite difficult to produce large quantities of the graphene material, although researchers are working to improve that and they have been in recent years.

The graphene oxide is much more cost effective say researchers, and these sorts of membranes already have successfully been able to filter out small nanoparticles, large salts, and organic molecules. You can also now add salt to the list.

Their ultimate goal is to eventually create a graphene-based filtration device that will be able to produce potable water from either seawater or wastewater; using minimal energy.

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Pics:
Pixabay
Popkey
Sources:
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-39482342

Using Graphene To Turn Seawater Into Drinking Water

The researchers in the UK used a graphene-based sieve and they have been able to successfully remove salt from seawater.

The results from the study have been published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology by researchers from the University of Manchester.

Their ultimate goal is to eventually create a graphene-based filtration device that will be able to produce potable water from either seawater or wastewater; using minimal energy.

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