Chemical Engineering Department, Texas A&M University at Qatar, Doha, Qatar.
Curr Pharm Biotechnol. 2021;22(13):1686-1704. doi: 10.2174/1389201021666201020162604.
Membrane separation is at the forefront of the technologies for desalination and wastewater treatment. However, current membranes have inherent limitations, including permeability/ selectivity trade-off and fouling susceptibility. To overcome these limitations, a new generation of advanced membranes based on nanomaterials has emerged. Among the nanomaterials, Graphene Oxide (GO) is regarded as the most promising nanomaterials due to its favorable characteristics such as hydrophilicity, tunable surface chemistry, large surface area, mechanical stability, bacteriostasis, and biocidal activities. There are currently three types of graphene-based membranes, i.e., nanoporous graphene/ GO, laminated GO, and mixed matrix membranes. The fabrication, applications, and limitations of the three classes of membranes are analyzed. After a brief introduction to membranes, graphene, GO, and GO functionalization, the recent advances in the fabrication of these membranes are presented. Relevant applications of these membranes in water treatment are discussed in light of the structureperformance relationship. Finally, the overall conclusion and our perspective on future research directions are provided.
膜分离技术处于海水淡化和废水处理技术的前沿。然而，目前的膜具有固有的局限性，包括渗透性/选择性权衡和易污染性。为了克服这些限制，出现了新一代基于纳米材料的先进膜。在纳米材料中，氧化石墨烯（GO）因其亲水性、可调表面化学、大表面积、机械稳定性、抑菌和杀菌活性等有利特性而被认为是最有前途的纳米材料之一。目前有三种基于石墨烯的膜，即纳米多孔石墨烯/GO、层叠 GO 和混合基质膜。分析了这三类膜的制造、应用和局限性。在简要介绍了膜、石墨烯、GO 和 GO 功能化之后，介绍了这些膜的最新制造进展。根据结构-性能关系，讨论了这些膜在水处理中的相关应用。最后，提供了整体结论和我们对未来研究方向的看法。
