A carbon nanotube wall membrane for water treatment

• DOI: 10.1038/ncomms8109
• Publication Date: 2015-05-14T11:24:24Z
• Authors: Byeongho Lee; Youngbin Baek; Minwoo Lee; Dae Hong Jeong; Hong H. Lee; Jeyong Yoon; Yong Hyup Kim
• Keywords: Permeance; Frit compression; Carbon fibers; Carbide-derived carbon

Various forms of carbon nanotubes have been utilized in water treatment applications. The unique characteristics nanotubes, however, not fully exploited for such Here we exploit the and corresponding attributes to develop a millimetre-thick ultrafiltration membrane that can provide permeability approaches 30,000 l m−2 h−1 bar−1, compared with best 2,400 bar−1 reported nanotube membranes. developed consists only vertically aligned walls 6-nm-wide inner pores 7-nm-wide outer form between when forest is densified. experimental results reveal permeance increases as pore size decreases. are observed impede bacterial adhesion resist biofilm formation. Carbon proposed many treatment, although nanotube-based membranes very high flow rates remain rare. Here, authors fabricate delivering close litres per square meter hour at 1 bar.