Muataz Ali Atieh
Hamad Bin khalifa University, Qatar
Title: Can carbon nanomaterials revolutionize membrane separation for water treatment and desalination?
Biography
Biography: Muataz Ali Atieh
Abstract
Membrane separation is a separation process where specifically-fabricated membranes act as a semi-permeable barrier and the separation process takes place by the membrane controlling the movement rate of various molecules between two liquid phases, two gas phases, or a liquid and a gas phase. Despite its superior impact (economically and environmentally) when compared with thermal separation, membrane separation still has several drawbacks, which prevents its global reliance by people as a robust separation technology. Some of these drawbacks are the high fouling rate (organic, inorganic, and bio-colloidal). Several techniques have been introduced to develop novel membranes, which exhibit anti-fouling behavior in addition, to be highly selective, permeable and stable (chemically and mechanically) which requires less replacement. Due to their attractive properties (such as stability and antibacterial behavior), the use of carbon nanomaterials have been widely practiced by scientists to fabricate smart membranes which are strong and exhibit less fouling. Additionally, the surface modification of conventional membranes by incorporating carbon nanomaterials have also been reported in several research papers for the same reasons. This review paper aims to cover the use of carbon nanomaterials in the field of membrane separation as freestanding or surface-modified membranes. The carbon nanomaterials covered are: Carbon nano tubes (CNT), graphene, graphene oxide, carbon nano fibers (CNF), MXene, carbide derived carbon (CDC) and fullerene. This presentation is important for membrane scientists/researchers who work on fabricating/modifying separation membranes using carbon nanomaterials.