Review: the revolutionary solutions of graphene-based nanomaterials for desalination and water purification membranes and its applications

The global challenges of the pollution in aquatic environments and water scarcity have been rapidly addressed via the application of membrane-based separations for water desalination and purification because of its advantages of easy scale-up, easy operation, environmental friendliness and energy efficiency, respectively. Lately, the new generation two-dimensional (2D) graphene and its nanomaterials including aquaporin, carbon nanotubes and zeolites have exhibited great potential for desalination and membrane-based separation fields due to its fascinating features such as large specific surface area, rich modification approaches, single atomic layer structure, nanosized pores, hydrophobic nature, high strength and durability as well as high thermal and electrical characteristics, respectively. Furthermore, an insight on the current research on graphene and its nanomaterials has been described along with its significance as promising nanomaterials in the desalination processes. This review article firstly introduces the history for desalination processes and its properties of interest. Secondly, the recent advancements of incorporating these nanomaterials in desalination processes such as reverse osmosis, forward osmosis, pervaporation, membrane distillation, etc., will be discussed. The challenges and future prospectives of these functional materials have also been described. In overall, these nanomaterials as enhancers have contributed significantly to the desalination technology since they have shown multiple functionalities with enhanced water transport properties. Finally, with respect to the fascinating features of these nanomaterials, we believe that the graphene and its nanomaterials still have a great research value and could potentially revolutionize desalination and the membrane separation technology.