This document discusses nanoporous graphene (NPG) fabrication methods, ion and gas permeation mechanisms through NPG, and presents preliminary experimental results. It summarizes that NPG has potential for desalination and gas separation due to high permeability from atomic thickness and strength to withstand high pressures. Permeation is dependent on pore size and functionalization, which can be used to control selectivity. The author's project aims to experimentally investigate ion selectivity of graphene nanopores and verify computational results by measuring ionic conductivity across graphene membranes using a setup that seals nanopores with graphene. Representative results show graphene seals 150nm pores and ion-voltage curves with and without sealed pores.

1. B. Graphene Fabrication Methods
Ionic and Molecular transport through
nanoporous graphene
Vivek Saraswat1, Dr. Ulrich F. Keyser2
vs396@cam.ac.uk1. Department of Materials Science & Metallurgy, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0FS, UK
2. Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0HE, UK
References and Acknowledgement
A. Introduction
• Graphene, a 2D honeycomb lattice of carbon atoms, is known to be
impermeable to all gases and ions1,2. Introduction of nanopores, however can
enable size selective separation
• Due to its atomic thickness and mechanical strength3 (~1 TPa), nanoporous
graphene (NPG) can achieve 100 times greater permeation rates and sustain
10 times greater hydraulic pressures than currently used RO membranes4.
Therefore NPG has a huge potential in gas separation and desalination
• Here we discuss the graphene and nanopore fabrication techniques, gas and
ion permeation mechanisms through NPG and present the current project
with a representative set of results that have been obtained till date
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10. Liu, Y. et al. J. Appl. Phys. 115, (2014)
11. Cohen-tanugi, D. et al. (2014)
12. Walker M.I. et al. Appl. Phys. Lett. 106, (2015)
• Mechanical Exfoliation: Repeated cleaving of graphite layers
to obtain single layer graphene. Yields good quality
graphene, but not scalable
• Liquid Phase Exfoliation: Exfoliation of graphite in a suitable
solvent to obtain graphene flakes. Cheap and scalable but
limits the area of graphene
• Chemical Vapour Deposition: Deposition of carbon on metal
substrate to obtain graphene. It’s the most promising
method to obtain large area graphene inexpensively
Reproduced from 5
C. Creating nanopores in graphene
• Oxidative Etching: It involves exposing graphene to reactive oxygen species.
Oxidation commences at existing defects which enlarge into pores. To create
sub-nanometer sized pores, graphene can be exposed to UV in presence of
oxygen. UV radiation breaks C=C bonds of graphene and creates defects
• Ion-beam etching: Used to create high density nanopores over macroscopic
areas of graphene using ion bombardment (eg. Ga+)
• Electron beam etching: Creating nanopores using electron beam of a TEM.
Offers precise control over pore size6, but slow and needs to be done manually
D. Gas and Ion permeation mechanisms
Possible molecule trajectories
(Reproduced from 7)
Leak rates of different gases
before and after nanopores
of certain size were etched in
NPG (Reproduced from 8)
Gas Permeation Mechanisms
• Total permeation through NPG is a sum of direct flux (molecules cross directly from bulk
phase of one side to other side) and adsorption flux (molecules cross after being adsorbed
onto graphene). Certain gases such as CH4 show significant adsorption on NPG, while others
such as H2 and He show no surface adsorption
• Studies show that selective permeation is possible if pores of a particular size can be reliably
generated (see fig.). Pore functionalization also affects selectivity. By attaching heavy
functional groups at pores, it is possible to achieve selective N2 permeation and exclude H2
• Permeation rate is linear at low pressures, but at higher pressures, the adsorbed phase
saturates the pores and therefore the permeation rate becomes independent of pressure
• Smaller pores have high energy barriers and are therefore dominated by direct flux. Larger
pores have low energy barriers and are therefore dominated by surface adsorption
Ion Permeation Mechanisms
• Ionic flux is strongly dependent on pore size and functionalization. Oxygen doped nanopores
are selective to K+. This is due to coulomb coupling between ions and functional groups.
• Electric field can also be used to tune ion selectivity to a certain extent. Moreover, it also
depends on the ion itself – heavily hydrated ions (Li+) are less selected
K+ selectivity shown as non
zero density of K+ at x=0
(Reproduced from 9)
E. Graphene – A promising RO membrane
• Despite decrease in young’s modulus, membrane stress of NPG also decreases with
increasing porosity10. Therefore, NPG can sustain higher pressures at higher porosity
• NPG shows near perfect salt rejection for smallest pore sizes. Salt rejection decreases with
increase in pore sizes, but surprisingly also decreases with increase in applied pressure,
which is exact opposite of what is observed in diffusive RO membranes.
• Hydroxylated pores show 70% higher permeability than hydrogenated pores but also lower
salt rejection due to hydrogen bonding between –OH and ions
• NPG can achieve permeation of 129 L/cm2/day/MPa which is 100 times higher than other RO
membranes and can sustain hydraulic pressures of 57 MPa, which is 10 times higher than
other RO membranes. NPG therefore has immense potential as RO membrane
Stress distributions in a NPG sheet under increasing biaxial
stress (Reproduced from 10)
Performance chart for functionalized
nanoporous graphene versus existing
technologies (Reproduced from 10)
A typical
simulation(Reproduced
from 10)
F. Project Approach & Methodology
• Glass nanopore is formed by pulling glass capillary in a
laser capillary puller
• This glass nanopore is mounted on a micromanipulator
(which controls its drive) and filled with the ionic
solution
• A voltage is applied between electrodes in the nanopore
and the reservoir and the nanopore is lowered onto
graphene. Contact is detected when current increases
and the micromanipulator drive is stopped
• An inverted microscope is used to obtain in-situ Raman
measurements to characterize graphene
Experimental setup for the
project(Reproduced from 12)
(i) Graphene is floated on the
surface of reservoir by
dissolving salt crystal.
(ii) Capillary is pushed into the
graphene. Contact is
detected by increase in
current
(iii) This places a monolayer
across the tip
(Reproduced from 12)
G. Results and Discussion
• The method that will be used has been demonstrated for measuring ionic conductivity across
graphene membranes. This means that it will be possible to carry out experimental
investigation of ion selectivity of graphene nanopores and test the published computational
results. Results so far have established that graphene seals nanopores of size ~150 nm.
• Following figures are representative selection of experimental results that have been
obtained so far
-60 -40 -20 0 20 40 60
-6
-4
-2
0
2
4
6
Measured current
Linear fit of I-V curve
Current(nA)
Voltage (mV)
Bare nanopore resistance=9.73 M
-200 -100 0 100 200
-0.4
-0.2
0.0
0.2
0.4 Measured current
Linear fit of I-V curve
Current(nA)
Voltage (mV)
Sealed Resistance=512 M
-60 -40 -20 0 20 40 60
-0.3
-0.2
-0.1
0.0
0.1
0.2 I-V Curve with bare nanopore
I-V Curve with sealed nanopore
Current(nA)
Voltage (mV)
R=236.6 
R=833 
1200 1600 2000 2400 2800
1800
2000
2200
2400
2600
RamanIntensity
Raman Shift (cm
-1
)
D
G
2D
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)
(i) Raman spectrograph of graphene taken from
in-situ Raman spectrometer (ii) I-V curve of Bare
nanopore (150 nm nanopore, 1M NaCl) (iii) I- V
curve of sealed nanopore (iv) I-V curves of bare
and sealed nanopore in pH3 HCl solution
H. Conclusion and Outlook
• Nanoporous graphene has huge potential in desalination and gas separation
systems owing to its mechanical strength and extraordinary permeability
• Pore geometry and functionalization can be used to tune the selectivity of
NPG to gas molecules and ions
• Using ionic current measurements and Raman spectroscopy defect density can
be assessed. Therefore, selectivity of NPG to various ions as a function of
defect density can be determined
• Using the proposed setup it will be possible to verify published computational
results in the future
The experiments were supported by Biological & Soft Systems group at Cavendish Lab, University of
Cambridge. Author is thankful to Michael Walker for providing necessary training and supervision