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Photonic crystals in biology

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Poster Session, Tuesday, June 15<br />

Theme A1 - B702<br />

Investigation of Potential Use of Carbon Nanotube Membranes <strong>in</strong> Desal<strong>in</strong>ation<br />

P<strong>in</strong>ar Baltaci 1 , Leyla Ozgur 1 , Deniz Rende 1,2 , Rahmi Ozisik 3 and Nihat Baysal 1*<br />

1 Department of Chemical Eng<strong>in</strong>eer<strong>in</strong>g, Yeditepe University, Istanbul 34755, Turkey<br />

2 Department of Chemical Eng<strong>in</strong>eer<strong>in</strong>g, Bogazici University, Istanbul 34342, Turkey<br />

3 Department of Materials Science and Eng<strong>in</strong>eer<strong>in</strong>g, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY 12180, USA<br />

Abstract– The potential use of carbon nanotube membranes <strong>in</strong> water desal<strong>in</strong>ation was evaluated <strong>in</strong> the present study.<br />

Water transport by reverse osmosis through hexagonally packed carbon nanotube (CNT) membranes was studied with<br />

Molecular Dynamics simulations. Our results showed that due to the osmotic gradient, the distance between CNT<br />

membranes decreased until steady state conditions were reached. The flow rate of water dur<strong>in</strong>g its transportation<br />

<strong>in</strong>dicates high degree of desal<strong>in</strong>ation.<br />

Reduction of potable water sources is one of the primary<br />

environmental issues of the last two decades. This deficiency<br />

causes a decrease <strong>in</strong> the human lifetime expectancy, an<br />

<strong>in</strong>crease <strong>in</strong> disease epidemics, and therefore, is a political<br />

issue [1]. In addition, desal<strong>in</strong>ation of soil and underground<br />

water is an important issue <strong>in</strong> regions that have very low<br />

precipitation. [2]. As a result, treatment of available water<br />

sources receives global attention and is a promis<strong>in</strong>g research<br />

area.<br />

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs), which are rolled up sheets of<br />

sp 2 -bonded graphite [3], are suggested as efficient membrane<br />

materials for desal<strong>in</strong>ation processes [4]. The current study<br />

focuses on the potential use of CNT membranes <strong>in</strong> the<br />

desal<strong>in</strong>ation processes to make desal<strong>in</strong>ation cheaper and fresh<br />

water more widely available [5].<br />

Due to the importance of this subject <strong>in</strong> terms of<br />

environmental and health impact, the current study aims to<br />

study the separation of a NaCl solution from H 2 O by reverse<br />

osmosis. The system conta<strong>in</strong>s two (6,6) s<strong>in</strong>gle walled carbon<br />

nanotube (SWNT) membranes separat<strong>in</strong>g NaCl solution and<br />

H 2 O (Figure 1). The simulation was carried out at 300 K and<br />

1 atm for 60 ns via molecular dynamics (MD) simulations<br />

with a time step of 1 fs. Polymer Consistent Force Field<br />

(PCFF) was chosen as the govern<strong>in</strong>g force field and periodic<br />

boundary conditions were applied <strong>in</strong> all spatial directions.<br />

Initially, the distances between the two SWNT membranes<br />

was set to 2 nm across both compartments, and the<br />

concentration of salt compartment (Na + and Cl - ) was set to<br />

5.4 M. All the systems were energy m<strong>in</strong>imized prior to MD<br />

simulations.<br />

The periodically replicated simulation cell conta<strong>in</strong>s eight<br />

SWNTs each conta<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g 144 sp 2 carbon atoms, 545<br />

transferable <strong>in</strong>termolecular potential (TIP) water molecules<br />

and 25 pairs of Na + and Cl - ions. SWNTs were held together<br />

with van der Waals forces and solvent <strong>in</strong>duced hydrophobic<br />

<strong>in</strong>teractions.<br />

In this study, the flow of water molecules through openended<br />

SWNT membranes under an osmotic gradient was<br />

performed. The distance between membranes decreases<br />

cont<strong>in</strong>uously but not monotonically. Due to the high<br />

transportation rate of water molecules through the SWNTs, it<br />

can be concluded that SWNTs are promis<strong>in</strong>g desal<strong>in</strong>ation<br />

membrane materials.<br />

Computer resources supplied by Yeditepe University are<br />

gratefully acknowledged. P<strong>in</strong>ar Baltaci is an undergraduate<br />

student at Yeditepe University.<br />

*Correspond<strong>in</strong>g author: nbaysal@yeditepe.edu.tr<br />

[1] Cygan, R.T., Liao, J-D., 2008. A molecular basis for<br />

advanced materials <strong>in</strong> water treatment, MRS Bullet<strong>in</strong>, V33-1: 42-<br />

47.<br />

[2] Kotzer, E., 2005. Artificial kidneys for the soil – Solv<strong>in</strong>g the<br />

problem of sal<strong>in</strong>ization of the soil and underground water,<br />

Desal<strong>in</strong>ization, V185: 71-77.<br />

[3] Robertson, J., 2004. Realistic applications of CNTs,<br />

Materials Today, V7-10: 46-52.<br />

[4] Kalra, A.S., Garde, S., Hummer, G., 2003. Osmotic water<br />

transport through carbon nanotube membranes, PNAS, V100-18:<br />

10175-10180.<br />

[5] Wang, L., Zhao, J., Li, F.,Fang, H., Lu, J.P., 2009. First<br />

pr<strong>in</strong>ciples study of water cha<strong>in</strong>s encapsulated <strong>in</strong> s<strong>in</strong>glewalled<br />

carbon nanotube, J. Phys. Chem. C, V113-14: 5368-<br />

5375.<br />

NaCl<br />

Solution<br />

CNT<br />

Membrane<br />

H 2O<br />

CNT<br />

Membrane<br />

NaCl<br />

Solution<br />

Figure 1. The H 2 O compartment at the center is separated from<br />

the NaCl-solution compartment (left and right) by two water<br />

permeable membranes of hexagonally packed CNTs.<br />

6th Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Conference, zmir, 2010 385

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