Recent Advances in Applications of Carbon Nanotubes for Desalination: A Review

Abstract

As a sustainable, cost-effective and energy-efficient method, membranes are becoming a progressively vital technique to solve the problem of the scarcity of freshwater resources. With these critical advantages, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have great potential for membrane desalination given their high aspect ratio, large surface area, high mechanical strength and chemical robustness. In recent years, the CNT membrane field has progressed enormously with applications in water desalination. The latest theoretical and experimental developments on the desalination of CNT membranes, including vertically aligned CNT (VACNT) membranes, composited CNT membranes, and their applications are timely and comprehensively reviewed in this manuscript. The mechanisms and effects of CNT membranes used in water desalination where they offer the advantages are also examined. Finally, a summary and outlook are further put forward on the scientific opportunities and major technological challenges in this field.

Carbon Nanomaterials: Synthesis, Functionalization and Sensing Applications

“…As a consequence, carbon nanomaterials are widely utilized in many sectors. They are used in environmental applications for water treatment [14,15], and other separation processes [16,17], for environment remediation [18][19][20]; in electronics where they have shown remarkable utility for the excellent electrical [21,22] and optical properties [23][24][25]. This, combined with the molecular sized diameter and microscopic structure enable the development of novel electronic devices [26].…”

Recent trends in the applications of thermally expanded graphite for energy storage and sensors – a review

“…Generally, carbon black, CNTs, carbon nanofibers and graphene were predominately used in energy-related applications 32 . CNTs based composite materials were shown excellent conductivity, high thermal and mechanical properties 33,34,35 . But, the usage of CNTs in manufacturing commercial products has been still limited due to some of the existing challenges such as high production cost, limited production capacity, safety, less purity, etc [36][37][38] .…”

Numerical Investigation of Fabricated MWCNTs/Polystyrene Nanofibrous Membrane for DCMD

“…Hence, the need for alternative sources for fresh water rather than the conventional sources has pretty much gained the attention of scientists in the recent decades. Membrane technologies have proved their superiority over other conventional desalination techniques as they are more energy efficient, provide high quality of produced water, have high productivity, have effective separation performance, have low chemicals demand, and are cost effective [ 7 , 8 , 9 ].…”