# Graphene membranes and water

> Graphene separation membranes in six panels: nanoporous single-layer graphene for desalination, swollen and confined graphene-oxide laminates sieving ions, porous graphene sieving gases, protons crossing monolayer graphene, and an rGO-coated sponge separating oil from water.

- Page: https://www.labcanvas.com/templates/graphene-research/graphene-membranes-water
- Open in the LabCanvas editor (LabCanvas account): https://www.labcanvas.com/editor.html?template=graphene-membranes-water
- Updated: 2026-10-14
- Category: Graphene research
- Method: Membranes
- Starting materials: Single-layer graphene, graphene-oxide laminates, rGO-coated melamine sponge
- Product: Membranes for water, ions, gases and protons; oil sorbents
- Key result: Membranes, ions and molecules drawn in 3D after the cited papers; hydration shells and pore sizes are illustrative
- Figure: 1920 × 1080 px, 45 editable layers (6 generated objects with settings)

## Steps

1. **Nanoporous graphene**: Oxygen-plasma pores in monolayer graphene: salt rejection nearly 100 %, water flux up to 10⁶ g m⁻² s⁻¹ at 40 °C under a pressure difference (Surwade et al. 2015); in simulations, hydroxyl groups on the pore edge can roughly double the water flux (Cohen-Tanugi & Grossman 2012)
2. **GO laminate, swollen**: Immersed in water, GO laminates block all solutes with hydrated radii larger than 4.5 Å (Joshi et al. 2014); swollen laminates, d ≈ 13.5 Å, have a cut-off of ≈ 9 Å, larger than the hydrated ions of common salts (Abraham et al. 2017)
3. **GO laminate, confined**: Physically confined laminates, d from ≈ 9.8 to 6.4 Å, sieve below the size of hydrated ions; ion permeation falls exponentially while water transport changes by a factor below 2; 97 % rejection of NaCl (Abraham et al. 2017)
4. **Gas sieving**: After UV oxidative etching the membrane deflated about two orders of magnitude faster for H₂ and CO₂ than non-porous graphene, while Ar leaked as before (Koenig et al. 2012); unetched, it is impermeable to standard gases including helium (Bunch et al. 2008)
5. **Protons**: Monolayer graphene and hBN are highly permeable to thermal protons; no proton transport is detected through bilayer graphene, multilayer hBN or monolayer MoS₂ (Hu et al. 2014)
6. **Oil–water separation**: Melamine sponge coated with reduced graphene oxide is hydrophobic and oleophilic, stays afloat and takes up about 85 times its own weight of oil; regenerated with toluene it can be used again (Assis et al. 2026)

## Strengths

- One atom thick: the thinnest possible membrane
- Spacing between GO sheets sets the cut-off (Abraham et al. 2017)
- Sorbents can be regenerated (Assis et al. 2026)

## Limitations

- GO laminates swell in water (Abraham et al. 2017)
- Pores in single layers are hard to make uniform at scale

## Uses

- Desalination and water treatment
- Gas separation
- Fuel-cell membranes and oil-spill clean-up

## References

1. Surwade et al., “Water desalination using nanoporous single-layer graphene”, Nat. Nanotechnol. 2015. https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2015.37 (primary)
2. Joshi et al., “Precise and ultrafast molecular sieving through graphene oxide membranes”, Science 2014. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1245711 (primary)
3. Abraham et al., “Tunable sieving of ions using graphene oxide membranes”, Nat. Nanotechnol. 2017. https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2017.21 (primary)
4. Koenig et al., “Selective molecular sieving through porous graphene”, Nat. Nanotechnol. 2012. https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2012.162 (primary)
5. Hu et al., “Proton transport through one-atom-thick crystals”, Nature 2014. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14015 (primary)
6. Assis et al., “3D rGO and rGO/TiO₂-modified melamine sponges: sorbents for oil and emerging organic pollutant removal”, ACS Omega 2026. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.5c11602 (primary)
7. Cohen-Tanugi & Grossman, “Water desalination across nanoporous graphene”, Nano Lett. 2012. https://doi.org/10.1021/nl3012853 (further reading)
8. Bunch et al., “Impermeable atomic membranes from graphene sheets”, Nano Lett. 2008. https://doi.org/10.1021/nl801457b (further reading)
9. Nair et al., “Unimpeded permeation of water through helium-leak-tight graphene-based membranes”, Science 2012. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1211694 (further reading)

Credit: Drawn by LabCanvas after Surwade et al., Nat. Nanotechnol. 2015 (doi:10.1038/nnano.2015.37), Joshi et al., Science 2014, Abraham et al., Nat. Nanotechnol. 2017, Koenig et al., Nat. Nanotechnol. 2012, Hu et al., Nature 2014, Assis et al., ACS Omega 2026, and the papers in the details.

## Questions

**What does the “Graphene membranes and water” template show?** Graphene separation membranes in six panels: nanoporous single-layer graphene for desalination, swollen and confined graphene-oxide laminates sieving ions, porous graphene sieving gases, protons crossing monolayer graphene, and an rGO-coated sponge separating oil from water.

**What are the steps shown in “Graphene membranes and water”?** 1. Nanoporous graphene: Oxygen-plasma pores in monolayer graphene: salt rejection nearly 100 %, water flux up to 10⁶ g m⁻² s⁻¹ at 40 °C under a pressure difference (Surwade et al. 2015); in simulations, hydroxyl groups on the pore edge can roughly double the water flux (Cohen-Tanugi & Grossman 2012). 2. GO laminate, swollen: Immersed in water, GO laminates block all solutes with hydrated radii larger than 4.5 Å (Joshi et al. 2014); swollen laminates, d ≈ 13.5 Å, have a cut-off of ≈ 9 Å, larger than the hydrated ions of common salts (Abraham et al. 2017). 3. GO laminate, confined: Physically confined laminates, d from ≈ 9.8 to 6.4 Å, sieve below the size of hydrated ions; ion permeation falls exponentially while water transport changes by a factor below 2; 97 % rejection of NaCl (Abraham et al. 2017). 4. Gas sieving: After UV oxidative etching the membrane deflated about two orders of magnitude faster for H₂ and CO₂ than non-porous graphene, while Ar leaked as before (Koenig et al. 2012); unetched, it is impermeable to standard gases including helium (Bunch et al. 2008). 5. Protons: Monolayer graphene and hBN are highly permeable to thermal protons; no proton transport is detected through bilayer graphene, multilayer hBN or monolayer MoS₂ (Hu et al. 2014). 6. Oil–water separation: Melamine sponge coated with reduced graphene oxide is hydrophobic and oleophilic, stays afloat and takes up about 85 times its own weight of oil; regenerated with toluene it can be used again (Assis et al. 2026).

**What are the starting materials and the product?** Starting materials: Single-layer graphene, graphene-oxide laminates, rGO-coated melamine sponge. Product: Membranes for water, ions, gases and protons; oil sorbents.

**Which papers is “Graphene membranes and water” based on?** Surwade et al., “Water desalination using nanoporous single-layer graphene”, Nat. Nanotechnol. 2015 (doi:10.1038/nnano.2015.37); Joshi et al., “Precise and ultrafast molecular sieving through graphene oxide membranes”, Science 2014 (doi:10.1126/science.1245711); Abraham et al., “Tunable sieving of ions using graphene oxide membranes”, Nat. Nanotechnol. 2017 (doi:10.1038/nnano.2017.21); Koenig et al., “Selective molecular sieving through porous graphene”, Nat. Nanotechnol. 2012 (doi:10.1038/nnano.2012.162); Hu et al., “Proton transport through one-atom-thick crystals”, Nature 2014 (doi:10.1038/nature14015); Assis et al., “3D rGO and rGO/TiO₂-modified melamine sponges: sorbents for oil and emerging organic pollutant removal”, ACS Omega 2026 (doi:10.1021/acsomega.5c11602); Cohen-Tanugi & Grossman, “Water desalination across nanoporous graphene”, Nano Lett. 2012 (doi:10.1021/nl3012853); Bunch et al., “Impermeable atomic membranes from graphene sheets”, Nano Lett. 2008 (doi:10.1021/nl801457b); Nair et al., “Unimpeded permeation of water through helium-leak-tight graphene-based membranes”, Science 2012 (doi:10.1126/science.1211694).

**Can I edit the “Graphene membranes and water” template?** Yes. Open it in the LabCanvas editor: all 45 layers are editable, including 6 generated objects (structures, plots, equipment) with their own settings. Change the text, colours and layout, then export PNG, TIFF, SVG or PDF.

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