Supersonically blown nylon-6 nanofibers entangled with graphene flakes for water purification

Jong Gun Lee, Do Yeon Kim, Mukund G. Mali, Salem S. Al-Deyab, Mark T. Swihart, Suk Goo Yoon

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

33 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Water purification membranes, capable of purifying a few to tens of milliliters of aqueous methylene blue solution in a minute, were produced by supersonically blowing graphene flakes with a nylon-6 polymeric solution. The solution-blown nylon-6 nanofibers became entangled with graphene flakes thereby locking the graphene flakes within the frame of the bendable two-dimensional film structure. This method, which yielded a 5 × 7 cm2-sized membrane in less than 10 seconds, is commercially viable owing to fast fabrication and scalability. We show that our water purification device allows a flow rate range of 0.3-4 L h-1 with a membrane area of just 5 cm2, under a pressure difference of 0.5-3.5 bar. If the membrane were scaled up to 0.5 m2, it could provide 300-4000 L h-1 flow rate, an ample supply for home use.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)19027-19035
Number of pages9
JournalNanoscale
Volume7
Issue number45
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2015 Dec 7

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Materials Science(all)

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