An Overview of the Final Year Project on Graphene Oxide 🔬

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Hi all! In this article, I will give you a brief introduction to our final-year research project. 


The hard water problem is a major issue in Sri Lanka and around the world due to its health risks and unpleasant taste. What is hard water? Hard water is water that has a high concentration of dissolved minerals, mainly calcium (Ca²⁺) and magnesium (Mg²⁺) ions. These minerals come from natural sources, such as limestone or chalk, as water flows through them. Inadequate intakes of calcium have been associated with increased risks of osteoporosis, nephrolithiasis (kidney stones), colorectal cancer, hypertension and stroke, coronary artery disease, insulin resistance, and obesity. Also, there is a potential risk of CKDu (Chronic Kidney Disease of unknown etiology) by hardness. According to the analysis, 26.9% of well water was soft, 15.0% was moderately hard, 15.8% was hard, and 42.2% was very hard in Sri Lanka.



Figure 01: Relationship between water hardness and
number of CKDu patients in sampling areas in Sri Lanka


According to the WHO (World Health Organization), they have categorized the drinking water by the concentration level of CaCO3 as soft water (0–60 mg/L), moderate hard water (61–120 mg/L), hard water (121–180 mg/L), and very hard water (>180 mg/L). 


In our research, we are focusing on how to decrease the concentration of Ca²⁺ from the hard water using a graphene oxide (GO)-based membrane. GO has the ability to reject the cations from the drinking water using two main mechanisms, including size exclusion and the adsorption capacity of the GO membrane. Due to its functional groups like hydroxyl, carboxylic, and epoxy groups, it has the ability to capture the most cations in the water. While considering the rejection rate of the Ca²⁺ ions, we should also consider the other performances, like water permeability and reusability as well. These performances depend on the various factors. As examples, temperature, carbon-to-oxygen ratio (C/O ratio), initial metal concentration of the cations, and thickness of the GO membrane. So, in our research, we are focusing on how the water softening and other performance are changed with the C/O ratio. When we increase the C/O ratio, that means we reduce the O-containing functional groups. The reduced graphene oxide can be called prGO (partially reduced graphene oxide) or rGO (reduced graphene oxide). 


Figure 02: Structure of graphene oxide and

reduced graphene oxide


When we think about the GO membrane, a major limitation is the limited reusability of the membrane. So, we are investigating how we can improve the reusability (regeneration potential) of the GO-based membrane as well. The characterization techniques that are used in our research are SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy), FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy), and EDAX (Energy Dispersive X-ray Analysis).


When we consider the Molecular Dynamic part of our research, it is totally done for identifying the mechanisms of this research at the atomic level. Also, we are trying to simulate how the functional groups capture cations and how factors like temperature, initial metal concentration, and C/O ratio affect the performance of the GO membrane. 



Figure 03: Initial and intermediate configurations of the

MD simulation system


In the future, we are planning to discuss more on graphene oxide-based membranes, the experimental and simulation results of our project, LAMMPS software, and the basic theories of the molecular dynamic simulation. 

Thank you for reading. Have a great day! We will see you in the next article.

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