Single layer graphene oxide functionalized with ionic liquid for selective removal of inorganic salts

The drive for minimizing the environmental impact, while making the whole process more efficient, generated the idea of investigating the use of some well-known green solvents, the Ionic Liquids (ILs), and their ability to extract salts from seawater as a step in the entire desalination process. However, most of ILs, which exhibit high solubility towards some of the salts known to cause inorganic fouling problems to the membranes used in relevant water desalination technology, are hydrophilic and thus, they cannot be used directly for extraction. Studies in the literature have shown that this type of ILs will not be dissolved in water, if they are properly attached on suitable carriers. Carbon nanostructures with their unique properties have already been used as carriers for a wide variety of chemical species. In this work, we present our results for loading a selected IL (Propylammonium Nitrate) on single layer Graphene Oxide (GO) and the extraction capability of this composite material towards CaCl₂, MgCl₂and NaCl salts.