Issue 45, 2015

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

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.

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

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
22 Sep 2015
Accepted
13 Oct 2015
First published
16 Oct 2015

Nanoscale, 2015,7, 19027-19035

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

J. Lee, D. Kim, M. G. Mali, S. S. Al-Deyab, M. T. Swihart and S. S. Yoon, Nanoscale, 2015, 7, 19027 DOI: 10.1039/C5NR06549F

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