Graphene Oxide Membranes for Terrestrial and Celestial Water Purification

Freshwater scarcity is becoming an increasingly global problem. Current technologies, such as reverse osmosis (RO) seawater desalination, help combat this problem, but new technologies will be needed to keep up with a growing population and a shifting hydrosphere. To that end, we present a compendious review of the literature and state-of-art of the research into graphene oxide (GO) membranes for both terrestrial and celestial water purification applications along with evidence that GO membranes are a serious contender to be that new technology. On Earth, GO membranes can reduce the specific power consumption of RO facilities by up to 76% by operating at reduced pressures while keeping high ion rejection. Beyond Earth, this energy savings can be applied onboard the International Space Station’s (ISS) water reclamation system, significantly reducing specific power consumption by up to 96% through lowering the required water flux. Concurrently, mass reductions can be achieved for both the system and its expendable media of 46% and 99.95%, respectively. Additionally, future proofing the system can be achieved by restoring the flux of GO membranes to their nominal rates, increasing the supported crew from the current 6 members to 58 while still attaining energy savings of up to 16%