Membrane Separation and Solar Evaporation for Water Purification and Desalination

Membrane Separation and Solar Evaporation for Water Purification and Desalination

This research community develops advanced membrane materials and solar-driven evaporation systems for purifying water, removing contaminants, and desalinating brine.

The work centers on designing composite membranes using graphene oxide, polyvinylidene fluoride, and other oxides to achieve high-efficiency separation. Key applications include reverse osmosis, nanofiltration, and membrane distillation for wastewater treatment and zero liquid discharge. A significant strand focuses on oil-water separation and emulsion management, often utilizing hydrophobic or responsive materials. Another major area involves solar-driven interfacial evaporation, where photothermal materials convert sunlight to steam for desalination and freshwater generation. These approaches address specific challenges like boron removal, antifouling, and the treatment of high-salinity brines.

The community is most prominent in Fluorine research, accounting for 3.9% of all Fluorine papers, and Chlorine research, representing 2.6% of that element's literature. It also contributes significantly to Carbon research, comprising 1.5% of Carbon papers.

The community comprises 7,107 papers, primarily published in the Journal of Membrane Science, Journal of Water Process Engineering, and Desalination.

Recent work continues to focus on optimizing solar evaporators for desalination and developing responsive membranes for oil-water separation, with recent studies exploring dynamic water gating and photothermal systems for marine spill recovery.

Papers behind this description

• More resilient polyester membranes for high-performance reverse osmosis desalination — Science, 2024 — doi:10.1126/science.adk0632
• Solar-driven interfacial evaporation technologies for food, energy and water — Nature Reviews Clean Technology, 2025 — doi:10.1038/s44359-024-00009-x
• Recent advances in carbon‐based materials for solar‐driven interfacial photothermal conversion water evaporation: Assemblies, structures, applications, and prospective — Carbon Energy, 2023 — doi:10.1002/cey2.331
• Unlocking Zero Liquid Discharge: A Parallel Water Supply Strategy to Realize Selective Salt Crystallization for Long‐Term Interfacial Solar Evaporation — Advanced Functional Materials, 2025 — doi:10.1002/adfm.202409257
• Bio-inspired solar evaporators for stable and efficient desalination of high-salinity brine with zero liquid discharge — Science Bulletin, 2025 — doi:10.1016/j.scib.2025.04.071
• Bio-inspired 3D architectured aerogel evaporator for highly efficient solar seawater desalination — Nano Energy, 2025 — doi:10.1016/j.nanoen.2025.110781
• Highly efficient three‐dimensional solar evaporator for zero liquid discharge desalination of high‐salinity brine — Carbon Energy, 2024 — doi:10.1002/cey2.548
• Graphene oxide-based membranes for water desalination and purification — npj 2D Materials and Applications, 2024 — doi:10.1038/s41699-024-00462-z
• Polyamide membranes with nanoscale ordered structures for fast permeation and highly selective ion-ion separation — Nature Communications, 2023 — doi:10.1038/s41467-023-36848-8
• Engineered Biomass‐Based Solar Evaporators for Diversified and Sustainable Water Management — Advanced Materials, 2025 — doi:10.1002/adma.202503658
• Highly efficient and robust oxygen vacancy-rich molybdenum trioxide aerogel evaporator for Photothermal conversion and clean water generation — Desalination, 2025 — doi:10.1016/j.desal.2024.118281
• Fabrication of a facile self-floating lignin-based carbon Janus evaporators for efficient and stable solar desalination — Advanced Composites and Hybrid Materials, 2024 — doi:10.1007/s42114-024-00849-y
• Light-adaptive interfacial solar steam evaporation enhanced by dynamic water gating — Nature Communications, 2025 — doi:10.1038/s41467-025-65018-1
• Interfacial evaporation-induced localized multi-field coupling enables efficient co-recovery of freshwater and nitrates — Nature Communications, 2026 — doi:10.1038/s41467-026-68365-9
• Reversible dual-stimuli responsive intelligent membrane prepared by RAFT polymerization for on-demand oil-water separation — Journal of Membrane Science, 2025 — doi:10.1016/j.memsci.2025.124644
• Advanced electrically conductive carbon nanotubes-PVDF composite membranes with electro-promoted water treatment performance — Nature Communications, 2025 — doi:10.1038/s41467-025-66260-3
• Ultrarobust biomimetic mineralized membranes via heterophase interface engineering — Matter, 2025 — doi:10.1016/j.matt.2025.102422
• Hydrogel Fiber Evaporator with Vertical Channels Integrated with Dual Heat Supply/Insulation Model for Continuous Solar Desalination — Nano-Micro Letters, 2026 — doi:10.1007/s40820-026-02120-z