title: Multilayer Nanoporous Graphene Membranes for Water Desalination.
abstract: While single-layer nanoporous graphene (NPG) has shown promise as a reverse osmosis (RO) desalination membrane, multilayer graphene membranes can be synthesized more economically than the single-layer material. In this work, we build upon the knowledge gained to date toward single-layer graphene to explore how multilayer NPG might serve as a RO membrane in water desalination using classical molecular dynamic simulations. We show that, while multilayer NPG exhibits similarly promising desalination properties to single-layer membranes, their separation performance can be designed by manipulating various configurational variables in the multilayer case. This work establishes an atomic-level understanding of the effects of additional NPG layers, layer separation, and pore alignment on desalination performance, providing useful guidelines for the design of multilayer NPG membranes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology , Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, United States.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cohen-Tanugi
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology , Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, United States.|Department of Process and Energy, Delft University of Technology , Delft, 2628 CB, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Li-Chiang
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology , Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, United States.
authors.forename: Jeffrey C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Grossman
keywords: Water desalination; molecular dynamic simulation; multilayer nanoporous graphene; ultrathin-film membrane