Development of Carbon Nitride Membranes for Sustainable Water Desalination

• Grant number: 24/06583-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: July 01, 2024
• End date: June 30, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Chemistry - Inorganic Chemistry
• Principal Investigator: Ivo Freitas Teixeira
• Grantee: Larissa Yukari Takagi Aya
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Exatas e de Tecnologia (CCET). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 20/14741-6 - Graphitic carbon nitrides as platforms for single-atom photocatalysis: moving towards design principles for improved performance, AP.JP

Abstract

With the growth of the population and changes in human lifestyle, the scarcity of potable water has become a recurring concern in various locations around the world in recent decades. In response, desalination has emerged as a crucial process for mitigating water scarcity, particularly in areas with limited freshwater resources. This process involves the removal of salts and contaminants from saline or brackish water to produce potable water, primarily accomplished through membrane-based technologies such as reverse osmosis. Two-dimensional (2D) nanoporous materials have emerged as promising candidates in membrane production due to their ability to offer ultrafast water permeation and efficient selective separation. Among these, carbon nitride-based materials have stood out for their high chemical and thermal stability, as well as their crystalline structure, offering an ordered matrix in the case of crystalline carbon nitrides. These characteristics make carbon nitride-based materials very interesting for membrane applications. This project proposes the investigation of materials based on poly(heptazine imide) (PHI), a highly crystalline carbon nitride, aiming to understand its influence on the development of polymeric membranes for water desalination processes, seeking to make it a viable alternative for this application.