2 ms·
i must be missing something. the story says they had to: 1. put epoxy resin on each side of the graphene membrane to prevent swelling when exposed to water (w
by HillaryBriss 8y ago
i must be missing something. the story says they had to:
1. put epoxy resin on each side of the graphene membrane to prevent swelling when exposed to water (which is important because if the graphene swells, then it allows sodium chloride to pass).
2. "drill" 1 nanometer (or smaller) holes into this membrane
so, what role does the graphene really play here? i mean, as long as you can drill tiny holes into it -- could the filter be made out of other material?
- maccio92 8y agoright but that's the point - graphene is pretty much the only material so far we've been able to drill holes that size in to
- peeters 8y agoThe part about drilling holes was for context, explaining why the alternative (single-layer graphene) was currently impractical. In the case of graphene oxide, which this article is about, the challenge was the swelling, the solution to which seems to be the key discovery in this article.
- logfromblammo 8y agoGraphyne. Cyclohexane rings connected by poly-yne chains of equal length. Allows for a somewhat tunable pore size, with no "drilling" necessary. Graph-di-yne and graph-tri-yne are nearest the appropriate pore size for water. A series of graphyne filters with larger pore sizes would likely be needed to clear out particulates and larger ions, so that the final purification step proceeds at a reasonable flow rate. https://arxiv.org/abs/1312.3179 https://arxiv.org/abs/1312.3179 Similar problem as graphene, in that it has not only never been outside of the lab, but also never been outside of the computer model.