Exfoliated Bi2Te3-enabled membranes for new concept water desalination: Freshwater production meets new routes. (15th September 2021) - Frappa, M.
Highlights: Exfoliated few layer bismuth telluride is filled in hydrophobic microporous PVDF membranes via dispersant liquid phase. Dynamic chalcogenide-enabled membranes are fabricated to supply a larger amount of desalted water at lower energy consumption. Heat dissipation and resistance to water vapour transfer are reduced. Assisted thermally-driven membrane distillation is examined for intensified water desalination. Fruitful and thermally efficient process is conceived under mild working conditions. Abstract: Water scarcity forces the science to find the most environmentally friendly propulsion technology for supplying plentiful freshwater at low energy costs. Membrane Distillation well meets criteria of eco-friendly management of natural resources, but it is not yet competitive on scale. Herein, we use a dichalchogenide compound (Bi2 Te3 ) as a conceivable source to accelerate the redesign of advanced membranes technologies such as thermally driven membrane distillation. A procedure based on assisted dispersant liquid phase exfoliation is used to fill PVDF membranes. Key insights are gained in the crucial role of this topological material confined in hydrophobic membranes dedicated to recovery of freshwater from synthetic seawater. Intensified water flux together with reduced energy consumption is obtained into one pot, thereby gathering ultrafast production and thermal efficiency in a single device. Bi2 Te3 -enabled membranes show ability to reduce the resistance to mass transfer while high resistance to heat loss is opposite. Permeate flux is kept stable and salt rejection is higher than 99.99% during 23 h-MD test. Our results confirm the effectiveness of chalcogenides as frontier materials for new-concept water desalination through breakthrough thermally-driven membrane distillation, which is regarded as a new low-energy and sustainable solution to address the growing demand for access to freshwater. Graphical abstract: Image, graphical abstract