Water distillation modeling by disjoint CNT-based channels under the influence of external electric fields
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Water distillation modeling by disjoint CNT-based channels under the influence of external electric fields S. Hashemzadeh Rizi 1 & A. Lohrasebi 1 Received: 11 March 2020 / Accepted: 30 July 2020 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Using molecular dynamics method, the ion rejection and water flow inside flexible disjoint carbon-based channels were examined in the presence of electric fields. The effects of the carbon nanotube diameters and field magnitude on the nano-channel efficiency were investigated. It was observed that water flow through the filter was modified by increasing the radius of nanotubes, while the salt rejection was reduced. The particles’ behaviors inside the channel were described in view of Van der Waals interactions between the water molecules, ions, and carbon atoms. Furthermore, the results indicated that the ion rejection and water flow were increased under the application of proper magnitude of electric fields. Keywords Water permeation . Ion rejection . External electric field . Carbon nanotube . Molecular dynamics
Introduction Freshwater demand is highly increased due to the rapid population growth, while the natural resources of freshwater are limited. As a practical approach, water-filtering processes can be used to overcome this challenge. Reverse osmosis (RO) is a pressure-driven process widely employed as an important step of wastewater treatment, which could be improved the performance of desalination processes by utilizing thin-film membrane. Study of water flow in complex nanofluidic structures and understanding how confinement and its geometry at nanoscale affect transport phenomena is not completely clear and is a subject of many current studies. To this end, many attempts have accordingly been made [1–13] by different research groups to develop our understanding about this topic and make it clearer. More recent evidences [7–10] reveal that the physical and chemical properties of nano-membrane are considerable factors that affect the passage of water molecules through the channels. For example, Cohen-Tanugi et al. [7] showed that the water flow through the graphene membrane could be controlled significantly by the variation of the porous graphene hydrophobicity. In other studies, the reduction of the
* A. Lohrasebi [email protected] 1
Department of Physics, University of Isfahan, Isfahan 8174673441, Iran
water flow through the nano-channel was reported by increasing the channel hydrophilicity, which was due to the attractive interactions between the water molecules and the channel surfaces [14, 15]. Moreover, the consequences of the channel structural parameters on the water flow through a graphene membrane were studied in some theoretical and computational investigations [16–18]. Meng et al. [16] considered a one dimensional disjoint nano-channel, utilized in the water filtration process. They reported a decreased in water molecules transfer rate across the nano-channel by increasing the gap between the disjoint nano-
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