New device developed to purify saltwater 1000 times faster

Researchers create a new device that can purify saltwater 1000 times faster than standard industrial equipment.

Fluorine-based nanochannels outperform traditional desalination technologies in terms of speed and energy consumption. The materials are naturally water-repellent, or hydrophobic, and can be used to improve water flow by lining pipes with them.

The researchers have created test filtration membranes by chemically producing nanoscopic fluorine rings that were stacked and implanted in an otherwise impenetrable lipid layer, much like the organic molecules found in cell walls.

They created a number of test samples with nanorings ranging in size from one to two nanometers. In comparison, a human hair is nearly 100,000 nanometers wide.

To determine the effectiveness of their membranes, Itoh and his colleagues measured the presence of chlorine ions, one of the major components of salt (the other being sodium), on either side of the test membrane.

Because fluorine is electrically negative, it repels negative ions like chlorine in salt.

However, one advantage of this negativity is that it breaks down water clusters, which are loosely bound groups of water molecules, allowing them to pass through the channels more quickly.

The team’s fluorine-based water desalination membranes are more effective, faster, use less energy, and are designed to be very simple to use.