Robert Hurt, Project 4 Leader, and SRP trainee Muchun Liu developed a novel method to create thin robust membranes with vertically aligned graphene nanochannels for dramatic improvements in water throughput.  They reported their findings in a recent issue of Nature Communications: “Controlling Nanochannel Orientation and Dimensions in Graphene-Based Nanofluidic Membranes”. The article describes a novel process that the team developed that allows the direction of channels in graphene nanomaterials to be manipulated for more effective water filtration.

The article is featured in the Editors’ Highlights section of the Nature Communications website and is featured in the news story Rotated graphene stacks up for better membranes in Nano Today’s April issue.

Having completed her training with the Brown SRP, Muchun is now a researcher at MIT.

More information is available here.