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Title: Ion selectivity of graphene nanopores

Abstract

As population growth continues to outpace development of water infrastructure in many countries, desalination (the removal of salts from seawater) at high energy efficiency will likely become a vital source of fresh water. Due to its atomic thinness combined with its mechanical strength, porous graphene may be particularly well-suited for electrodialysis desalination, in which ions are removed under an electric field via ion-selective pores. Here, we show that single graphene nanopores preferentially permit the passage of K+ cations over Cl- anions with selectivity ratios of over 100 and conduct monovalent cations up to 5 times more rapidly than divalent cations. Furthermore, the observed K+/Cl- selectivity persists in pores even as large as about 20 nm in diameter, suggesting that high throughput, highly selective graphene electrodialysis membranes can be fabricated without the need for subnanometer control over pore size.

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [3]
  1. Harvard University, Cambridge, MA (United States). Dept. of Physics
  2. Harvard University, Cambridge, MA (United States). School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
  3. Harvard University, Cambridge, MA (United States). Dept. of Physics, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Harvard Univ. Cambridge, MA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC); USDOE Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE); National Institutes of Health (NIH)
OSTI Identifier:
1270966
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC05-06OR23100
Resource Type:
Journal Article: Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Nature Communications
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 7; Journal ID: ISSN 2041-1723
Publisher:
Nature Publishing Group
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; single-layer graphene; water desalination; dna translocation; transport; membranes; nanochannels; channel

Citation Formats

Rollings, Ryan C., Kuan, Aaron T., and Golovchenko, Jene A. Ion selectivity of graphene nanopores. United States: N. p., 2016. Web. doi:10.1038/ncomms11408.
Rollings, Ryan C., Kuan, Aaron T., & Golovchenko, Jene A. Ion selectivity of graphene nanopores. United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms11408
Rollings, Ryan C., Kuan, Aaron T., and Golovchenko, Jene A. 2016. "Ion selectivity of graphene nanopores". United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms11408. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1270966.
@article{osti_1270966,
title = {Ion selectivity of graphene nanopores},
author = {Rollings, Ryan C. and Kuan, Aaron T. and Golovchenko, Jene A.},
abstractNote = {As population growth continues to outpace development of water infrastructure in many countries, desalination (the removal of salts from seawater) at high energy efficiency will likely become a vital source of fresh water. Due to its atomic thinness combined with its mechanical strength, porous graphene may be particularly well-suited for electrodialysis desalination, in which ions are removed under an electric field via ion-selective pores. Here, we show that single graphene nanopores preferentially permit the passage of K+ cations over Cl- anions with selectivity ratios of over 100 and conduct monovalent cations up to 5 times more rapidly than divalent cations. Furthermore, the observed K+/Cl- selectivity persists in pores even as large as about 20 nm in diameter, suggesting that high throughput, highly selective graphene electrodialysis membranes can be fabricated without the need for subnanometer control over pore size.},
doi = {10.1038/ncomms11408},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1270966}, journal = {Nature Communications},
issn = {2041-1723},
number = ,
volume = 7,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Apr 22 00:00:00 EDT 2016},
month = {Fri Apr 22 00:00:00 EDT 2016}
}

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Cited by: 324 works
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