Fast Water Transport through Subnanometer Diameter Vertically Aligned Carbon Nanotube Membranes

Yang, Da-Chi; Castellano, Richard J.; Silvy, Ricardo Prada; Lageshetty, Sathish K.; Praino, Robert F.; Fornasiero, Francesco; Shan, Jerry W.

doi:10.1021/acs.nanolett.3c00797

Fast Water Transport through Subnanometer Diameter Vertically Aligned Carbon Nanotube Membranes

Journal Article · Mon Jun 05 00:00:00 EDT 2023 · Nano Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.3c00797· OSTI ID:2005106

Yang, Da-Chi ^[1]; Castellano, Richard J. ^[2]; Silvy, Ricardo Prada ^[2]; Lageshetty, Sathish K. ^[2]; Praino, Robert F. ^[2]; ^[3]; ^[1]

Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ (United States)
Chasm Advanced Materials, Canton, MA (United States)
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

Small-diameter carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have outstanding mass-transport properties, especially enhanced water flow. Here, we report on water transport through the first macroscopic membranes with vertically oriented, subnanometer (0.8 nm) CNT pores, made by a scalable, solution-based method with electric-field alignment of bulk-grown single-wall CNTs (SWCNTs). After plasma etching to open pores, vertically aligned CNTs served as the primary pathway for liquid-water transport. The CNT membranes showed fast pressure-driven water transport, with up to 105-fold enhancement compared to no-slip Hagen–Poiseuille flow. Comparing 0.8 and 3 nm CNTs, we found that the hydrodynamic slip lengths increased with decreasing nanotube diameter, reaching 8.5 μm for the smaller-diameter CNTs. Here, the results suggest that pressure-driven water transport in small-diameter CNTs is increasingly dominated by entrance resistance, thus becoming independent of nanotube length. Scalably fabricated membranes incorporating vertically aligned subnanometer CNT pores could have applications in water filtration, desalination, and energy harvesting.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC52-07NA27344

OSTI ID:: 2005106

Report Number(s):: LLNL-JRNL--850510; 1076640

Journal Information:: Nano Letters, Journal Name: Nano Letters Journal Issue: 11 Vol. 23; ISSN 1530-6984

Publisher:: American Chemical SocietyCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY
carbon nanotubes
desalination
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electrical conductivity
entrance resistance
filtration
flow enhancement
membranes
slip length
subnanometer scale
water filtration

Fast Water Transport through Subnanometer Diameter Vertically Aligned Carbon Nanotube Membranes

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