Membranes Coupled with Nanotechnology for Drinking Water: An Overview

It is well known that current global development is not sustainable over the long term. Every major ecosystem is under threat at different timescales, impacting water, food, energy, biodiversity, and mineral resources- all exacerbated by the population growth and climate change. Potable water is a threatened but critical resource, the scarcity of which is devastating for the developing world. Water-related nanotechnology research has the potential to make safe drinking water inexpensive and accessible to developing countries. Therefore, the relevant nanotechnologies on membranes for filtrating drinking water are reviewed. At the same time, it is pointed out that for the foressable future membranes must exhibit a number of characteristics such as high water flux, high salt rejection, mechanical stability, resistance to fouling, and low cost. With new breakthroughs in membrane technology, constituent specific membranes should be realized and the promising reverse osmosis membranes coupled with new nanotech will be applicable to nanofiltration membranes in the future.