Graphdiyne Membranes for Seawater Desalination

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Graphdiyne Membranes Push Seawater Desalination

An international study shows graphdiyne membranes remove about 99.7% of seawater salts, delivering high-permeability desalination for arid regions. The results appear in the journal Nature Water.

Graphdiyne shares similarities with graphene, but its structure features triangular motifs linked to hexagonal cages. This arrangement gives the material exceptional strength and stability, while creating narrow, molecule-sized channels that drive selective filtration.

Experiments demonstrate that graphdiyne membranes permit water molecules to pass while effectively blocking ions such as sodium, potassium, calcium, and magnesium. The openings are tuned so water can move freely, but even the smallest metal ions cannot traverse the tiny channels.

Researchers tested membranes with varying thickness, starting from configurations with twelve layers. The data show that even relatively thin graphdiyne membranes remove seawater salt efficiently, achieving about 99.7% reduction in NaCl concentration. The membranes remained active for more than 300 hours, indicating durability suitable for long-term desalination processes.

Experts say this advance could support new water purification approaches in hot and arid regions of Asia and Africa, where freshwater is scarce and desalination demand is rising.

In the broader context, this work represents progress toward practical, carbon-based desalination materials that combine high permeability with strong selectivity. The design of graphdiyne’s pore geometry matters for how well water moves and salts are rejected, offering a platform for future optimizations.

While further testing is needed to scale the technology to industrial systems, the study demonstrates that graphdiyne membranes can be tuned at the molecular level to optimize water flux and salt rejection. The insights from this research also deepen understanding of two-dimensional carbon lattices and how their pore structure controls transport in real-world filtration scenarios.

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