Molybdenum disulfide

A new filter that can revolutionise

water treatment
By Yusuf Addan

What is desalination and why is

it important?
Desalination is turning salty
seawater into drinking water.
Seawater is 97% of all the
water on the planet.
Climate change will lead to
droughts.

Outline
How desalination works.
How molybdenum disulfide produces
drinking water.
Competing solutions with this new filter.
Why is MoS2 useful for desalination?

Reverse Osmosis
Normal osmosis- Water goes from
area of high concentration to area of
low concentration through a filter.
Reverse osmosis uses energy to work
against concentration gradient.
Desalination uses reverse osmosis
because of high salt concentration.

How does Molybdenum disulfide

work
Made of a layer of molybdenum
sandwiched in between two layers of
sulfur.
The whole membrane is porous (has
holes) to allow water to pass.
Holes big enough for the water
molecules but not for dissolved ions
and bacteria.
Molybdenum ring attracts water and
sulfur rings repel. Membrane sucks

 A picture showing how the membrane looks like

Competing solutions
Graphene works in same way as
MoS2 but does not have the same
suction ability.
But MoS2 filters up to 70% more
water than graphene
Another solution is a polymer that
has a brush layer on a polyamide
surface.
This membrane can get clogged.

Why is MoS2 useful for desalination?

Reverse Osmosis needs a lot of
energy
This new filter reduces energy
needed
This means lower costs to run
desalination plant.
More plants can be set up in areas
prone to droughts.
Seawater is a huge resource. It is
time we access it effectively.

References
1 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
United States Department of Commerce. Ocean
[online]. NOAA: Silver Spring MD; 2014 [Accessed 6
December 2015]
2 Narayana ,R.A. 2015. Water desalination with a singlayer MoS2 nanopore. [online]. Nature communications.
Available from:
http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2015/151014/ncomms9
616/full/ncomms9616.html#close
[ Accessed 31 January 2016]
3 Lynda Delacey. Nanometer-thick membrane a new
contender in the quest for more efficient desalination
[online]. Gizmag: Victoria Australia; 2015 [Accessed 6
December 2015].

References
4 Darreb Quick. New reverse-osmosis
membrane to improve desalination
[online]. Gizmaf: Victoria Australia;
2010. [Accessed 6 December 2015]
5 Phys.org.Study demonstrates
desalination with nanoporous
graphene membrane [online].
Phys,org: Isle of Man; 2015.
[Accessed 6 December 2015].