Interface-enhanced distillation beyond tradition based on well-arranged graphene membrane

Abstract

Traditional distillation (TD) is generally an energy-intensive and inefficient process for separation and purification of liquids in chemical industries. Herein, we developed an interface-enhanced distillation (IED) by employing a well-arranged membrane of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) sheet arrays embedded with silicon dioxide nanofibres (rGO/SiO2) as the evaporation intermediate layer on the liquid surface. This IED enlarges the evaporation surfaces and weakens the intermolecular forces on the liquid/solid/gas interfaces, realizing the fast and even low temperature fraction collection with less energy consumption. The IED delivers evaporation rates 200%–300% times that of TD, meanwhile having an energy saving of 40%–60% and a time saving of 50%–70% for diverse liquid feeds. In atmospheric IED manner, high boiling point and perishable organics can be collected with high quality at a temperature lower than their boiling points. This IED provides an innovative strategy for highly efficient distillation in chemical industries.