Desalination and Water Treatment · Published 2026-08-02 · DOI 10.1016/j.dwt.2026.101881
Awad Alzebair, Ahmet Öğüt, Didem Aydin, Mahide Tosun, Nubar Mammadova, Elif Yücel, Sude Akça, İlkay Hilal Gübbük, Mustafa Ersoz
Chemical nanoporation of graphene oxide (GO) membranes via KOH activation and pre-oxidation is the most scalable route to in-plane nanopore formation in two-dimensional carbon materials. However, no chemically nanopored GO membrane has simultaneously achieved the triple performance threshold we propose for nanofiltration-competitive desalination: NaCl rejection > 80% at brackish-water concentrations (≥2 g/L), water permeance > 5 LMH/bar at ≥ 10 bar, and stability > 100 h in cross-flow. This review diagnoses why this gap persists after a decade of effort and provides a roadmap for closing it. Five interconnected limitations are identified: (1) neglect of pre-oxidation degree, the C/O ratio, as the variable governing pore nucleation; (2) uncritical transfer of the KOH activation mechanism from bulk activated carbon to two-dimensional GO without verification; (3) isotropic lateral etching that consistently yields 2–10 nm pores rather than sub-nanometer dimensions required for NaCl exclusion; (4) absence of deliberately engineered pore-edge chemistry, the dominant determinant of ion selectivity; and (5) recurring characterization gaps in which dry-state measurements can systematically overstate performance. We examine each limitation mechanistically, benchmark all reported data against commercial nanofiltration standards, and develop nine recommendations to redirect the field toward genuine desalination-relevant progress.
Abstract from DOAJ. Public domain (CC0 1.0).
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Alzebair, A., Öğüt, A., Aydin, D., et al. (2026). Nanopore engineering in graphene oxide membranes: A critical review of KOH activation, pre-oxidation, and desalination performance. Desalination and Water Treatment. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dwt.2026.101881