Fabrication and Water Treatment Application of Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs)-Based Composite Membranes: A Review

Membrane separation technology is widely explored for various applications, such as water desalination and wastewater treatment, which can alleviate the global issue of fresh water scarcity. Specifically, carbon nanotubes (CNTs)-based composite membranes are increasingly of interest due to the combi...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Membranes (Basel) 2017-03, Vol.7 (1), p.16
Main Authors: Ma, Lining, Dong, Xinfa, Chen, Mingliang, Zhu, Li, Wang, Chaoxian, Yang, Fenglin, Dong, Yingchao
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Carbon nanotubes
CNTs-based composite membranes
Desalination
Fabrication
fabrication methods
Fresh water
Heavy metals
membrane materials
membrane technology
Membranes
Nanotechnology
Pollutants
Review
Saline water
Seawater
Separation
Wastewater treatment
Water scarcity
Water treatment
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Membrane separation technology is widely explored for various applications, such as water desalination and wastewater treatment, which can alleviate the global issue of fresh water scarcity. Specifically, carbon nanotubes (CNTs)-based composite membranes are increasingly of interest due to the combined merits of CNTs and membrane separation, offering enhanced membrane properties. This article first briefly discusses fabrication and growth mechanisms, characterization and functionalization techniques of CNTs, and then reviews the fabrication methods for CNTs-based composite membranes in detail. The applications of CNTs-based composite membranes in water treatment are comprehensively reviewed, including seawater or brine desalination, oil-water separation, removal of heavy metal ions and emerging pollutants as well as membrane separation coupled with assistant techniques. Furthermore, the future direction and perspective for CNTs-based composite membranes are also briefly outlined.
ISSN:2077-0375
2077-0375
DOI:10.3390/membranes7010016