Environmental Technology & Innovation 30 (2023) 103108

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Environmental Technology & Innovation

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/eti

Engineered nanomaterials for water desalination: Trends and

challenges
Ranjna Sirohi a , Yogesh Kumar b , Aravind Madhavan c , Narashans Alok Sagar d ,
∗
Raveendran Sindhu e , B. Bharathiraja f , Hari Om Pandey g , Ayon Tarafdar g ,
a
School of Health Sciences and Technology, University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun 248 001, Uttarakhand, India
b
Department of Food Engineering and Technology, Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering and Technology, Longowal 148
106, Punjab, India
c
School of Biotechnology, Amritha Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amritapuri, Kerala, India
d
Department of Biotechnology, University Centre for Research and Development, Chandigarh University, Mohali, 140
413, Punjab, India
e
Department of Food Technology, TKM Institute of Technology, Kollam 691 505, Kerala, India
f
Department of Chemical Engineering, Vel Tech High Tech Dr. Rangarajan Dr. Sakunthala Engineering College, Chennai 600
062, India
g
Livestock Production and Management Section, ICAR-Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izzatnagar, Bareilly 243 122, Uttar
Pradesh, India

article info a b s t r a c t

Article history: It is ironic that the world suffers from water scarcity even with more than 70% of
Received 7 February 2023 Earth being covered by water. This has majorly been attributed to the lack of cost-
Received in revised form 5 March 2023 effective and less energy intensive desalination technologies that would enable easy
Accepted 11 March 2023
conversion of seawater to freshwater for safe consumption. Several strides have been
Available online 15 March 2023
made in the desalination front that have led to the emergence of new nanomaterials
Keywords: with higher salt rejection efficiency. This review discusses the design considerations for
Salt these materials along with different classes of nanomaterials synthesized for effective
Surface chemistry water desalination. The type of material used (organic/inorganic), method of prepara-
Carbon nanotubes tion, pore size and surface chemistry, mechanical strength and biodegradability were
Aquaporin
identified as important considerations for the synthesis of such nanomaterials. Among
Zeolite
the preparation methods, sol–gel and chemical vapor deposition techniques were found
Membrane fouling
to be the most cost-effective so far. Pore size and surface chemistry have been reported
as crucial considerations for selective removal of salt ions and controlling the fouling
tendency. The developed materials are also expected to exhibit good durability and
stability that can be achieved through surface modification, crosslinking and blending.
Carbon-based materials (CNTs, graphene), aquaporin, zeolites and clays and, metal oxide
nanoparticles have been used as membrane materials with promising desalination
potential. However, the recyclability of nanomaterials used for desalination and their
environmental impact remains a challenge and relatively unexplored that could be
investigated using integrated bioprocessing approaches.
© 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC
BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

1. Introduction

The rise in water shortage and depleting freshwater resources due to contamination, overuse, economic activities
and increased population has seriously affected a major portion of the population especially in water stressed regions

∗ Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: ayontarafdar@gmail.com, ayon.tarafdar@icar.gov.in (A. Tarafdar).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eti.2023.103108
2352-1864/© 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/
licenses/by/4.0/).
R. Sirohi, Y. Kumar, A. Madhavan et al. Environmental Technology & Innovation 30 (2023) 103108

Fig. 1. Capacity and location of the top ten desalination plants of the world (Aqua Tech, 2021).

of the world. About 40% of the global population is affected by water shortage and this figure is expected to rise by
2025 to 60% (Ibrahim et al., 2017). Many communities are now resorting to desalination techniques which involves the
removal of certain chemicals and excess salt concentration from seawater to <500 ppm (Esfahani et al., 2016), making
it consumable. Currently, there are about 17,000 desalination plants across 177 countries with the biggest one in Saudi
Arabia which caters to 69% of the desalinated water of the country (Barrington, 2020). The top ten desalination plants
and their production potential has been shown in Fig. 1.
Unfortunately, desalination is an energy-intensive and costly process with high environmental impact which restricts
its ready usage across the globe (Darre and Toor, 2018). Major advancements have been made recently in the field
of seawater desalination through novel technologies and materials. Among the two known categories of desalination
methods: thermal- and membrane-based, the latter has gained more popularity due to low environmental footprint, low
specific energy consumption and higher flexibility in capacity (Eveloy et al., 2015). To this effect the choice of membrane
materials, their salt rejection capability, surface chemistry, resistance to fouling and biodegradability, play a crucial role in
the design of efficient desalination technologies (Rolf et al., 2022). Recent reports show that there are several promising
nanomaterials such as metal oxide nanoparticles, graphene, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) etc. which could be game changers in
the area of water desalination. However, there are still many challenges that are associated to such emerging technologies
which needs to be understood, and tacked with appropriate scientific investigations. These challenges also impact the
scalability of nanomaterials to real world desalination applications and should therefore, be considered while designing
water desalination experiments.
This review discusses the latest advancements in the development and application of nanomaterials for water desalina-
tion. The review also highlights the considerations required for the development of such materials along with associated
challenges which are usually not covered in other similar reviews. A holistic view of the status of nanomaterial-based
desalination technologies has been provided which will aid researchers to design experiments for further advancement
in this field.

2. Theoretical considerations for nanomaterial design for desalination

Nanomaterials provide high surface area and strong adsorption properties which allow the efficient removal of salt
ions from seawater through adsorption. Therefore, the morphology and chemical functionality of nanomaterials play an
important role during desalination through a specific type of desalination process (Wang et al., 2020a; Nambi Krishnan
et al., 2022). It is worth mentioning that the design of nanomaterials for desalination is an active area of research,
and new findings and advancements are constantly emerging. Therefore, theoretical considerations for the design of
nanomaterials for desalination would depend on the specific type of desalination process being used and the properties
of the nanomaterial being developed. Some possible theoretical considerations for the design of nanomaterials for
desalination are given in Fig. 2.

2.1. Type of material

The selection of the type of nanomaterial (organic, inorganic or hybrid) for a specific water desalination process is
based on exploiting their relative advantages. Organic nanomaterials (CNT, graphene) have high selectivity, low fouling,
lightweight and flexibility, biocompatibility and low cost of preparation (Lu et al., 2016; Kayvani Fard et al., 2018). In
contrast, inorganic nanomaterials (zero-valent metal nanoparticles, metal oxides nanoparticles) have high surface area-
to-volume ratio to promote efficient filtration of salt ions, high stability against high pressure and temperature, better
2
R. Sirohi, Y. Kumar, A. Madhavan et al. Environmental Technology & Innovation 30 (2023) 103108

Fig. 2. Theoretical consideration of factors while designing nanomaterials for desalination.

durability, and high chemical resistance (Ali et al., 2016; Ray et al., 2016). However, inorganic nanomaterials require higher
cost of production and many of them may have potential toxicity (Hofmann-Amtenbrink et al., 2015). The high toxicity
and antibacterial effects of some inorganic nanomaterials (silver nanoparticles) can treat water against viruses, bacteria,
and fungi (Borrego et al., 2016). Nowadays, research is focused on hybrid materials to exploit super permselectivity of
inorganic or other membranes with process-ability of the organic matrix (Aljundi, 2017). For example, the incorporation of
nanomaterials in the support membrane has been reported to improve the desalination while minimizing the operational
cost and environmental impacts (Goh et al., 2016). In addition, CNTs have been combined with metals or other types
of support to improve the adsorption, mechanical, optical, and electrical properties (Zito and Shipley, 2015). Other
strategies such as the functionalization of CNTs by amine to increase the –COOH and –OH groups on surface can be
adopted to improve the surface hydrophilicity leading to reduce the fouling and increase the water permeability and salt
rejection (Vatanpour et al., 2014). Similarly, the functionalized titania nanotubes embedded into the PA layer has been
reported to improve water flux without affecting salt rejection (Emadzadeh et al., 2015). The hydrophilicity of membranes
can be improved by acid and alkali treatment (Wang et al., 2016, 2019), plasma treatment (Lai et al., 2006), surface
zwitterionicalization (Zhao et al., 2013), and photografting (Ma et al., 2002).

2.2. Method of preparation

Selecting the method of preparation depends on the specific application and desired properties of the nanomaterial.
For instance, templating uses a template, such as a porous material or a patterned substrate, to guide the formation
of a nanomaterial and can be used to create highly ordered and porous nanomaterials for desalination (Dongre, 2018).
Similarly, phase inversion can be used to transform a polymer solution into a polymer-rich phase and a solvent-rich
phase through the application of temperature and pressure (Fang et al., 2022). This process can control the pore size
and distribution in the polymer matrix and can be used to create nanoporous membranes, composite membranes, and
nanofibers with improved water flux and salt rejection during desalination (De Moraes et al., 2020; Duraikkannu et al.,
2021). Carbon nanotubes, graphene and metal–organic framework (MOF) nanoparticles have high water permeability and
high salt rejection properties making them suitable for use as surface coating on the membrane surface by dip-coating,
spin-coating, or electrospinning (Lee et al., 2020; Sharif et al., 2021). The coated membranes enhance durability, require
less maintenance, and minimize energy consumption and chemical usage during desalination (Honarparvar et al., 2021).
Electrospinning is another technique that uses a high voltage electric field to draw a polymer solution or melt through
a small nozzle to create a thin fiber (Liyanage et al., 2023). The fibers produced by this technique are usually in the
nanometer range, however, this method can precisely control the fiber diameter and alignment for a more homogeneous
coating (Zhang et al., 2021). It is worth noting that choosing a cost-effective, scalable, and versatile method without
comprising the desalination performance would be the priority and sol–gel synthesis is a good example. This method
can be easily adapted to prepare a wide range of metal oxides, ceramics, and silica nanoparticles, which can be tailored
to meet specific requirements (Esposito, 2019; Li et al., 2020). Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is also a relatively cost-
effective method to deposit a stable solid layer of metals, metal oxides, and ceramic nanomaterials on the surface of a
desalination membrane with high production efficiency (Sabzi et al., 2023). The deposition by CVD allows precise control
of thickness, composition, and crystal structure of the deposited material even at high temperatures (Hernandez Ruiz
et al., 2022). The ability of CVD to produce highly purified stand-alone monolayer, multilayer or composite materials or
3
R. Sirohi, Y. Kumar, A. Madhavan et al. Environmental Technology & Innovation 30 (2023) 103108

coatings with a specific grain size structure with excellent dimensional stability is allowing better industrial scalability
(Mousavi Anijdan et al., 2019; Sabzi et al., 2023). When it comes to scalability, methods like solvothermal synthesis,
hydrothermal synthesis, and precipitation have been widely used to produce MOF nanoparticles in large quantities which
can be easily functionalized with various chemical groups to tailor their properties. MOF are highly porous and can be
coated on desalination membrane to increase the water permeability and salt rejection (Wen et al., 2020). In general,
different preparation methods can result in nanomaterials with different morphologies, sizes, and chemical compositions,
which can affect the desalination processes. However, sol–gel and CVD are scalable and cost-effective methods that can
be adopted for commercial prepare nanomaterials.

2.3. Pore size and surface chemistry

Pore size and surface chemistry are crucial characteristics of nanomaterials for selective removal of the salt ions
during desalination. Nanomaterials for desalination have nanoporous membranes which form well-defined channels to
allow fast convective water flow (Cohen-Tanugi and Grossman, 2012). These nanopores selectively reject ions based
on molecular size, charge, and hydrophobicity. However, during design, the size of nanopores must range between
a critical size to permeate water molecules and a maximum size to effectively reject salt ions (Cohen-Tanugi and
Grossman, 2012; Kou et al., 2014). Other factors such as pressure and nature of nanopores affect the salt rejection
performance and should be considered while designing the nanomaterials. It has been reported that the smaller pores are
capable of effectively rejecting salt, but the rejection performance decreases with higher pressures (Kommu et al., 2016).
Similarly, hydrogenated pores exhibit a stronger salt rejection performance but had lower rate of water permeation than
hydroxylated ones (Cohen-Tanugi and Grossman, 2012; Hosseini et al., 2018).
Surface properties like charge, area, and chemistry significantly affect the interaction between desalination membrane
and dissolved salts (Goh et al., 2022; Rolf et al., 2022). For example, a negatively charged surface will repel and reject
the positively charged ions while reducing the transport of negatively charged ions (Aguilar et al., 2020). Surface charge
also affects the adsorption and desorption of salt ions on membrane surface to affect the performance of desalination
(Liu et al., 2021). In addition, the surface charge density provides greater conducting regions for the membrane and
generates suitable flow channels for easy passage of the counter ions (Teow and Mohammad, 2019). The surface charge
can be modified by incorporating positively or negatively charged functional group (–NH2 , –OH, –COOH) on the surface of
desalination membranes using several methods such as chemical modification (by attaching functional groups, Choi et al.,
2021), electrostatic adsorption (by adsorption of oppositely charged ions, Hameed et al., 2022), pH-induced charge reversal
(by adjusting the pH of the solution, Han et al., 2021), electrochemical methods (by anodic and cathodic polarization, Zhang
and Li, 2022) and ion-exchange (by treating with an ion-exchange resin, Gao et al., 2022), depending on the material,
surface charge desired, process compatibility and cost. In addition to the desalination performance, surface chemistry
also plays an important role in reducing the fouling tendency. For example, the negatively charged wettable surface has
been reported to improve in anti-biofouling characteristics by forming a hydration layer, which hinders the attachment of
bacterial cells and energetically lowers their affinity (Ee et al., 2023). Therefore, tailoring and functionalization of surface
properties and microstructure is important to achieve high salt rejection while maintaining high water flux.

2.4. Mechanical strength

The mechanical strength of nanomaterials determines the operational stability and durability of desalination mem-
brane. Insufficient mechanical strength can lead to pore collapse and membrane breakage, which can negatively impact
the long-term performance of the membrane (Ravi et al., 2020). The wall thickness and pore diameter play an important
role in determining the mechanical stability and durability of a membrane. It is reported that membrane wall thickness of
100-200 µm, and pore diameter smaller than 0.2 µm could be considered for achieving a mechanically strong membrane
(Tang et al., 2012). Nanomaterials having exceptional mechanical strength and stiffness (graphene, CNTs, and MOFs) with
high surface area, special structure and morphology, long range porosity, superior thermal, and electrical conductivity
are suitable for use in desalination membranes (Wang et al., 2021). However, all desired features for desalination are
hard to achieve using a single nanomaterial. Therefore, strategies like using a composite structure (Shawky et al., 2020),
controlling the fabrication process (temperature, pressure, and time, Wu et al., 2020), combining nanomaterial with
polymers (Abdelhamid and Khalil, 2019), crosslinking (Raza et al., 2019), and surface modification (Hosseini et al., 2021)
is required to improve the mechanical strength by enhancing its structural stability and resistance to physical stress.
Several studies have confirmed that addition and coating of desalination membrane improve the mechanical properties.
For instance, coating of fluorographite on single-layer hollow fiber (Zhao et al., 2017), addition of nanocrystalline cellulose
to PVDF-HFP electrospun membrane (Lalia et al., 2014) and addition of CaCO3 nanoparticles to PVDF membrane (Hou et al.,
2012) improved the mechanical properties. However, in some cases, surface modification (plasma treatment, Wei et al.,
2012) or the addition of certain materials (such as polyethylene glycol, Ma et al., 2011) may introduce defects or weaken
the structure of the membrane, leading to reduced mechanical strength. In case of polyethylene glycol, the presence of
numerous finger-like structures reduces the amount of surface area available for intermolecular bonding, which in turn
reduces the overall strength of the material. In contrast, proper care is required during addition of nanoparticles (graphene
oxide or clay). If the nanoparticles are not well-dispersed within the membrane, they can lead to the formation of weak
spots or defects that reduce the mechanical strength of the membrane.
4
R. Sirohi, Y. Kumar, A. Madhavan et al. Environmental Technology & Innovation 30 (2023) 103108

2.5. Biodegradability

Biodegradable nanomaterials are becoming increasingly important due to their potential to reduce environmental
pollution and for promoting sustainable development. Therefore, their ability to undergo breakdown and decomposition
by natural processes into non-toxic and harmless components should be considered while designing a desalination
membrane. Biodegradable and non-toxic nanomaterial which are made from renewable resources such as polylactic
acid, cellulose, chitosan, starch, alginate, and gelatin are finding interest in desalination applications (Prabha et al.,
2020; Cao et al., 2021; Ambaye et al., 2022). However, it should be noted that not all nanomaterials made from these
polymers are biodegradable, as the degradation rate depends on a combination of factors related to the material properties
(molecular weight, crystallinity, and degree of hydration), fabrication conditions, environmental conditions (oxygen
content, temperature, pH, and humidity), microbial activity and, particle size and shape (Qiu et al., 2021; Egan and
Salmon, 2022; Rosli et al., 2021). In contrast, nanomaterials such as metal nanoparticles, CNTs, quantum dots and silica
nanoparticles can persist in the environment for a long time and can have toxic effects (Nikazar et al., 2020). However,
the unique properties of non-biodegradable nanomaterials make them necessary for specific applications, despite their
potential environmental impacts (Yu et al., 2021; Cheng et al., 2022). Recycling of nanomaterial could also be a great
strategy toward sustainability which will reduce the environmental footprint and consumption of natural resources in
desalination. For example, membranes made from polyamide or polysulfone are easily separable and can be cleaned for
reuse (Cay et al., 2020; Contreras-Martinez et al., 2021). Recycling methods such as chemical (acid and alkali washing to
remove inorganic salts and minerals), thermal (hot water or steam to remove organic matter and biofouling), and physical
cleaning (pressure or ultrasound application to remove particles and organic matter from the surface), and a combination
of these methods could be used for cleaning of the membranes for reuse (de Paula and Amaral, 2018). However, the
feasibility of recycling non-biodegradable nanomaterials, such as CNTs and MOFs, remains a challenge and requires further
research.

3. Carbon-based nanomaterials

3.1. Carbon nanotubes

CNTs are long, hollow cylindrical nanostructures made of one-atom-thick, rolled carbon sheets. CNTs can range in size
from 1 nm in diameter to many centimetres in length (Ding and Su, 2023). Carbon atoms in CNTs have a very strong bond.
Van der Waals forces, or more particularly, -stacking, hold individual CNTs to form ‘‘ropes’’ that naturally align themselves.
The strongest-to-lightest ratio of any known material is found in CNTs. Carbon in CNTs are arranged in hexagonal lattices,
resulting in electron localization where the electrical charge may travel freely. They also have unique electrical and
adsorptive qualities together with excellent strength and low weight, which makes them a promising material in a wide
range of desalination applications (Teow and Mohammad, 2019). It has been found that the ability to control membrane
properties through the incorporation of CNTs into the membrane matrix led to significant improvements in permeability,
surface hydrophilicity, and solute rejection, as well as decreased fouling tendency (Khalid et al., 2015). It also improved
the tensile strength and electrical conductivity, surface chemistry, and polymer crystallinity of the membrane matrix
(Medina-Gonzalez and Remigy, 2011).
To cite an example, a thick polyamide (PA) layer was interfacially polymerized over self-supporting buckypapers (BPs)
constructed of hydroxyl-functionalized entangled CNTs to create a thin film composite (TFC) membrane. In comparison
to conventional polysulfone (PSf) membrane, the hydrophilic supports that make up the BP-PA composite membrane
showed a larger water absorption capacity (17 wt%), lower water contact angle (20◦ ), and higher porosity (> 90%).
Moreover, it exhibited a superior desalination system compared to conventional PSf membranes (Dumee et al., 2013).
To increase the effectiveness of desalination, the CNTs can be designed by carboxylation and integrated into a carbon
nanotube immobilized membrane (CNIM) (Bhadra et al., 2016). The substantially more polar carboxylated CNTs improved
the interaction of CNTs with the polar water vapour while preventing liquid from passing through the membrane pores
during membrane distillation because they were significantly more polar. Farahbakhsh et al. (2017) created multi-walled
carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) embedded PA RO membranes by adding two types of raw and oxidized MWCNTs at various
concentrations. The saline solution flow of the membranes was shown to be enhanced by MWCNTs in both their raw and
oxidized forms. At 0.005 wt%, or 25.9 L/m2 h, the membrane made from raw MWCNTs had the maximum flux, whereas the
membrane made from oxidized MWCNTs had a flux of 28.9 L/m2 h at the same concentration. Additionally, the embedding
of both raw and oxidized MWCNTs in the PA layer of the RO membrane did not significantly alter the salt rejection. A
stable RO method for desalination was demonstrated by the salt rejection of >96% (Farahbakhsh et al., 2017). Since a
single nanomaterial cannot provide all advantageous characteristics at once, it is envisaged that a hybrid would be able
to provide the required functions in terms of surface hydrophilicity, charges, and surface roughness. In order to create
a selective and highly permeable membrane, Azelee et al. (2017) developed a thin film layer that contained a mix of
multi-walled titania nanotubes (MWCNT-TNT) and carbon nanotubes. The presence of pore channels in both filters in this
hybrid created extra water channels that improved water permeability. The greatest water permeability of 0.74 L/m2 h bar
was attained for TFN membrane including 0.05 wt% acid treated MWCNT-TNT, which was around 57% higher than bare
TFN membrane. Surprisingly, the TFN membrane’s capacity to reject salt is unaffected by the increased water permeability.
5
R. Sirohi, Y. Kumar, A. Madhavan et al. Environmental Technology & Innovation 30 (2023) 103108

The increased hydrophilicity and strong negative charge on the membrane surface were thought to be responsible for the
membrane’s high Na2 SO4 and NaCl rejection (98.07% and 97.97%, respectively) without any reduction. The presence of a
critical or optimal nanomaterial concentration that results in the best membrane characteristics has been demonstrated
in several studies (Abbaspour et al., 2022; Jung et al., 2023; Qian et al., 2023).
Recently, 1,2-Dioleoyl-sn-glycerol-3-phosphocholine (DOPC) liposomes were modified to create synthetic CNT-DOPC
liposomes, in which the carboxylated-SWCNT (COOH-SWCNT) of tiny size could serve as a water-channel. To assess
the contribution made by CNT nanochannel to membrane permeability, the CNT-DOPC liposomes were added to the
polyamide (PA) layer to form thin-film nanocomposite (TFN) membranes. The water permeability of CNT-liposomes was
nearly ten times greater than that of pure DOPC-liposomes, according to stop-flow results. This resulted in a 71.4% increase
in water flux compared to TFC membranes and a 25.6% increase (caused by a CNT nanochannel) over DOPC-liposome-
incorporated membranes with relatively higher rejection to NaCl of about 97.6%. Additionally, the membrane containing
CNT-liposomes had the lowest fouling resistance and a flux recovery rate of 89.0% (Wang et al., 2023).

3.2. Graphene

Despite CNTs’ benefits, their high cost has prevented a wide range of commercial uses. In comparison to CNTs,
graphene was discovered to be more affordable and to have superior characteristics. It is a novel class of 2D carbon-
based nanomaterial made up of a 2D sheet of allotrope carbon atom with a one-layer thick hexagonal lattice (Almomani
et al., 2021). Graphene is a low dimensional substance with a theoretical specific area of 2600 m2 /g, which is double of
activated carbon (AC) that has been finely split. Each carbon atom contains four bonds: σ -bonds with its three neighbors
and one π -bond with an out-of-plane orientation (El Meragawi et al., 2023). The carbon atoms in graphene are closely
bound by sp2 hybridization, making it the toughest substance yet tested. Moreover, graphene has an excellent electrical
conductivity of 7200 S/m at ambient temperature. Therefore, graphene can be utilized to desalinate seawater because of
these fascinating features.
The first graphene-based supercapacitor for saltwater desalination was demonstrated by Mishra and Ramaprabhu
(2011). The sodium arsenate-containing water was removed using 20 cycles of the produced functionalized hydrogen
exfoliated graphene (f-HEG) sheets with 50 mg of f-HEG loading at each electrode, as opposed to 20 cycles using
the same electrode without f-HEG, which removed 54% arsenic and 55% sodium. A basis for the development of a
commercially viable supercapacitor-based water filter is provided by the high adsorption capacity of graphene-based
supercapacitors for both inorganic salt and arsenic species. In a study, a reduced graphite oxidate-resol like material
(graphene nanocomposite) was synthesized by Wang et al. (2012) and utilized as an electrode in the process of capacitive
deionization (CDI). It was noted that the nanocomposite showed an increased adsorption capacity (3.229 mg/g) for the
removal of NaCl (65 mg/L) from brackish water. The added resol helped increase the surface area of reduced graphite
oxidate which led to a high NaCl absorption. On the other hand, El-Deen et al. (2014) had developed a unique one-pot
synthesis method in a CDI unit for a graphene-wrapped MnO2 - nanostructured electrode. Excellent findings were obtained
using the synthetic graphene-wrapped MnO2 -nanostructured electrode, which also showed notable specific capacitance
(292 F/g), electrosorptive capacity (5.01 mg/g), and distinctive recyclability. The specific capacitance and salt removal
efficiency of different graphene nanoelectrodes is presented in Table 1.

4. Aquaporin

Aquaporin (AQP) is considered the most important water channel in nature due to its high permeability, water
selectivity, and water transport capacity. It is made up of six transmembrane α -helices bundles embedded in the cell
membrane. The amino and carboxyl ends of the two halves facing the inside of the cell, are similar to one another, and
seem to repeat a series of nucleotides (Teow and Mohammad, 2019). The molecular simulation revealed that AQP has a
water permeability capacity in the range of 108 to 109 per second (Li et al., 2019). Despite its advantages, the fragile nature
of AQP and fabricating of its synthetic membrane restricts the industrial applications of AQP (Fuwad et al., 2017). However,
AQPs incorporation into synthetic membranes has shown an improved performance in maintaining salt rejection (Kumar
et al., 2007; Giwa et al., 2017). At the lab scale, several AQP-based biomimetic membranes (ABM) have been developed
for different roles, such as nanofiltration, reverse osmosis (RO), and forward osmosis (FO) (Sun et al., 2013; Li et al., 2015).
Moreover, commercial AQPs immobilized membranes are available for use in reverse and forward osmosis (Li et al., 2017).
In ideal circumstances, AQP forms water channels that only allows the water molecules to pass, while keeping out ionic
species and other polar molecules. AQP is the ideal model for the development of low-energy water purification systems
in seawater desalination because of its unique characteristics.
It has been shown that immobilizing AQP-vesicles using interfacial polymerization is useful for creating RO membranes
with exceptional rejection against sodium chloride (Tang et al., 2015). Kumar et al. (2007) suggested incorporating AQP
in the desalination membrane. With a selectivity of around 100%, the AQP- ABM has the potential to reach membrane
permeability as high as 60 L/m2 h, which is roughly two times greater than the current commercially available RO
membrane. Since the idea for mimicking biological membranes came from inserting AQP into membranes, this draws
major attention to the topic of water desalination. Zhong et al. (2012) first constructed a planar AQP-ABM on a cellulose
acetate (CA) membrane substrate that had methacrylate end groups functionalized. Using UV polymerization and side-
rupture of triblock copolymer (ABA) vesicles, a selective layer was created on the substrate for NF. The excellent water
6
R. Sirohi, Y. Kumar, A. Madhavan et al. Environmental Technology & Innovation 30 (2023) 103108

Table 1
Capacity and desalination potential of different CDI electrode materials.
Source: El-Deen et al. (2014) and Teow and Mohammad (2019).
Material Capacity (F/g) Voltage applied (V) Efficiency of salt removal (%)
Graphene 149 2 83.4
(1 M NaCl, 5 mV/s)
Graphene/CNT 68 2 77.1
(1 M NaCl, 10 mV/s)
Graphene/mesoporous carbon 40 2 88.8
(1 M NaCl, 10 mV/s)
Graphene Nanorods @MnO2 sandwich 292 1.2 92.9
(1 M NaCl, 10 mV/s)
Hollow carbon nanofibers (HCNFs) 222 1.2 86.03
(1 M NaCl, 5 mV/s)
Mesoporous carbon 87 1.2 50.7
(0.1 M NaCl, 5
mV/s)
Multi-channels carbon nanofibers 237 1.4 89.04
(1 M NaCl, 10 mV/s)
Manganese oxide/nanoporous carbon 204 1.2 81.5
(1 M NaCl, 1 mV/s)
Ordered mesoporous carbon/carbon nanotube (OMC/CNT) 108.41 1.2 79.4
(1 M NaCl, 10 mV/s)

permeability of 34.19 L/m2 h bar and NaCl rejection of 32.86% were produced by the NF membrane with an AQP: ABA
ratio of 1:50. compared to certain cutting-edge NF membranes. It was also noted that the fabricated AQP-ABM membrane
had higher mechanical strength to bear the pressure of >5 bar. Membrane stability also plays an important role in the
water desalination process. Zhao et al. (2012) developed an ABM that exhibited extended stability for several months
with stable rejection and flux potential. In addition, the membrane had ∼40% better magnitude and permeability than
commercial seawater RO membrane (SW30HR) and brackishwater RO membrane (BW30), respectively. Similarly, Li et al.
(2019) fabricated AQP-embedded vesicles within a TFC membrane, which showed 99% rejection of NaCl at a pressure
of 55 bar by feeding 32,000 mg/L NaCl solution in RO measurement. The stable water flux was found around 20 L/m2 /h,
which was 100% higher than the control TFC membrane. Moreover, AQP-TFC was compared with a commercial membrane
(SW30HR) in a real-time situation and it was observed that AQP-TFC exhibited ∼80% higher flux with a higher solute
rejection compared to SW30HR. This shows that there are potential advantages associated with AQP-based biomimetic
membranes for desalination.

5. Metal-oxide nanoparticles

The desalination of saline seawater utilizing the filter membrane technique constitutes nearly 50% of the global
desalination technologies for the manufacture of palatable water. It is a prevailing technique for the treatment of water
since it is easy to operate, has economic feasibility, reduces prerequisite of chemical additives, has higher productivity and
lesser phase change, is easily scalable and exhibits efficient removal capability. Major strides have been made in the past
utilizing hydrophilic nanoparticles like graphene oxide, carbon nanotubes, titanium dioxide, silica, alumina, zeolites for
improving the efficacy of TFC membranes. In this section, various nanoparticles applied in the reverse osmosis membranes
have been detailed.

5.1. Silver nanoparticles

It has been observed that the biofouling of membrane has a bad effect on the efficacy of membrane handling. The
nanoparticle-based silver is a generally used category of antibacterial or antifungal substances. Recently, several researches
focused on the silver nanomaterial immobilized on the outside of the membranes to offer polyamide-TFC membrane
possessing durable, efficient and straight anti-microbial activities (Yin et al., 2013). For example, pre-formulated Ag
nanoparticle were incorporated onto the outer portion of the membrane for improving the antimicrobial activities of
TFC membrane (Ben-Sasson et al., 2014a). Various researches projected that the Ag nanomaterials would position at the
membrane-feed interface to allow instant interaction between Ag and microbes in order to get greater anti-bacterial
capability (Gunawan et al., 2011). For enhancing the perseverance of Ag containing membrane and reducing the potential
hazards of discarding Ag and Ag+ particles at a larger quantity to the environment (Wijnhoven et al., 2009), one process is
the biochemical immobilization of Ag nanomaterials on the outer region of the membranes with reasonable Ag discharge
and prolonged anti-microbial potential. In a separate research, the Ag nanoparticle possessing ∼15 nm diameter was
proficiently linked to the membrane comprising polyamide-TFC via covalent linkage, with the connecting chemical
7
R. Sirohi, Y. Kumar, A. Madhavan et al. Environmental Technology & Innovation 30 (2023) 103108

cysteamine (Yin et al., 2013). Compared to the native TFC membrane, both Ag nanomaterial attached membrane and
thiol attached complex membrane (TFC–SH) proved a greater water flux and a moderately less salt rejection.

5.2. Copper nanoparticles

The use of copper (Cu) nanomaterials in the membrane filter technology as a bioactive has achieved significant
attention. In comparison with the silver, the Cu based nanomaterials is economically feasible and abundant and is
extensively utilized as an antiseptic, and as a preservative for wood. The use of Cu as an anti-biofouling substance in
the water treatment technology has also been investigated. Additionally, Cu particle have been applied in membrane
techniques as nano and ultra-filters (Zareei and Hosseini, 2019). For the RO based application in membranes, several
techniques for alteration using Cu nanomaterials have been recommended, e.g., membrane alteration using adsorbed
copper hydroxide materials. Additionally, functional modification of polyamide with Cu-based nanomaterial was applied
to cover a pristine thin-film impregnated membrane (Ben-Sasson et al., 2014b). In another study, the in situ surface
modification using Cu nanomaterials on the TFC surface membranes was also synthesized. To apply bioactive metal
nanomaterial for the management of biofouling in membranes during desalination technique, an appropriate technique
for continuous addition of the anti-microbial substance within the membranes must be established. Ben-Sasson et al.
(2016) developed a facetious as well as a new technology for linking anti-microbial Cu nanoparticles on the surface of
TFC-RO membranes. They suggested a process for surface modification of the membranes using Cu nanoparticle which
was feasible without disassembling the membrane module with implications in RO plants.

5.3. Titanium dioxide nanoparticles

Titanium dioxide (TiO2 ) has attained significant attention in various areas such as antibacterial coatings, photo-
catalysis, and oxygen sensor. Among these, the photocatalytic characteristic to degrade the organic materials would be
applied in the filter membrane, that it is effective to decrease the biofouling progression in the filtration membranes. An
improved category of TFNC membrane can be synthesized by the incorporation of TiO2 to polyamides. Recent studies have
evaluated the characteristics of polyamide derived TFNC membrane with TiO2 nanomaterials in it. It has been observed
that these altered nano-based membrane exhibited enhanced hydrophilic nature. This improved hydrophilicity could
significantly impact the flux along with the anti-biofouling potential of the membrane. Steadiness and hydrogen bonding
interaction energy among membrane’s surface and water has a significant consequence on salt rejection and permeability
of water.

6. Zeolites and clays

The application of ceramic membranes is getting progressively noteworthy in many areas of material science and
technology, predominantly in membrane-based separation technologies. Membrane processes are applied in many areas
like wastewater and effluent treatment, owing to their thermal steadiness, large mechanical and chemical strength, and
efficacy in comparison with classical technologies (Xue et al., 2014). These features enhances their demand among other
related polymer substances which are incapable to fight destructive conditions (Rozhkovskaya et al., 2021). Ceramic
substances are typically manufactured from inorganic substances, such as titanium, zirconium, and alumina oxide (García
et al., 2015), as well as clays, because of their low price and easy availability (Achiou et al., 2018).
In a recent study, two nanocomposite membranes were constructed based on clay or zeolite A (m-LTA) and clay or
zeolite Y (m-FAU) on a clay support synthesized from clay obtained from Meknes’ region. The observations proved that
the zeolite Y nano-composites accomplished better performance than the zeolite A membrane. In a similar work, the
production and characterization of a zeolite based LTA membrane synthesized on a novel clay support was done and its
implication to the elimination of heavy metals was elucidated (Lahnafi et al., 2022).
Zeolite are crystal based solid with a well-organized porous micro-structure composed of a 3D arrangement of
[SiO4 ]4− and [AlO4 ]5− connected by O2 . Various zeolites exist in nature (Nakhli et al., 2017), but their artificial variants
are the extensively used ones. Each variety possess a particular shape and size of the pore and inter-connection extending
from 3 to 10 Å. This inorganic material is thermo-chemically unchanging and their wider specific superficial area permits
them to be applied in various areas including catalysis, and membrane based separation techniques (Kosinov et al., 2016).
Zeolite A is a chemically derived zeolite with a smaller number of pores and composition of Na12 Al12 Si12 O48 .27H2 O
(García et al., 2015). The importance of zeolite A is related to its cation exchange capability and filtering and water
adsorption characteristics. Zeolite A has extensively been studied in various areas (Wang et al., 2015), particularly in
detergents as a softening agent as well as in seawater desalination (Moreira et al., 2018). For many ages, zeolite A has
been applied as an adsorptive substance for softening of hard water. Recently, Rozhkovskaya et al. (2021) applied zeolite
LTA for water softening by the transformation of alum sludge and waste glass. The produced zeolite was found to be
efficient in Ca2+ exchange with CEC in the magnitude of 73 mg/g. In another study Song et al. (2015) applied a two-step
crystallization technique to synthesize an improved zeolite to eliminate Ca2+ from geothermal water. The absorption
capability of the newly synthesized zeolite was 129 mg/g, and the reaction was exothermic. In another study, Xue et al.
(2014) synthesized a mesoporous zeolite A. The evaluation of Mg2+ and Ca2+ exchange characteristics in meso zeolite
displayed the presence of two types of exchange region in the zeolite: micropore (I) and mesopore (I) which had less
enthalpy values in the exchange in comparison to the micropore region.
8
R. Sirohi, Y. Kumar, A. Madhavan et al. Environmental Technology & Innovation 30 (2023) 103108

7. Challenges and perspectives

The recyclability and reuse of CNT, quantum dots, MOFs and silica-based nanomaterials remains a challenge and needs
to be investigated further. To this effect, thermo-chemical and biological methods involving specific microorganisms
generated through omics approach could be looked into. Another limitation of currently developed nanomaterial-
based desalination membranes is biofouling. For this, Ag and Cu based nanomaterials can be applied as anti-microbial
coatings to existing desalination membranes. Membrane features such as surface roughness, charge, and functionality
as well as feedwater variables (pH, temperature, ionic strength) should also be considered in further research as these
factors influence fouling/scaling. Problems associated with biofouling also hinder the scalability of nanomaterial-based
desalination approaches. To tackle this challenge, a suitable biological cleaning mechanism may be investigated and
techno-feasibility studies should be conducted for the method in-place. While developing and implementation of the
nanomaterial-based desalination methods, the environmental impact must be taken into consideration as well. For this,
the type of the feedwater used, the specific desalination technique applied, and the management of waste brine created
will be critical parameters to look for. Further, the use of renewable-energy based desalination technique is also being
explored now which could also be an interesting field to work on.

8. Conclusions

This review discussed the different design considerations for the development of nanomaterials for desalination.
Current technologies available for desalination, their characteristics and associated challenges were also discussed. The
sol–gel and CVD were identified as the most scalable and cost-effective methods so far while Cu nanoparticles were found
to be good anti-fouling agents. Omics approach for better desalination strategies, technoeconomic feasibility studies and
environmental impact assessment for nanomaterial-based membranes for desalination are warranted.

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Ranjna Sirohi: Writing – original draft, Literature survey, Data curation. Yogesh Kumar: Writing – original draft,
Literature survey, Data curation. Aravind Madhavan: Writing – original draft, Literature survey, Data curation. Narashans
Alok Sagar: Writing – original draft, Literature survey, Data curation. Raveendran Sindhu: Writing – review & editing,
Resources. B. Bharathiraja: Writing – review & editing, Resources. Hari Om Pandey: Writing – review & editing,
Resources. Ayon Tarafdar: Conceptualization, Writing – original draft, Supervision, Writing – review & editing.

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have
appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Data availability

Data used in this article have been taken from literatures and can be found in cited references.

References

Abbaspour, M., Akbarzadeh, H., Jorabchi, M.N., Salemi, S., Ahmadi, N., 2022. Investigation of doped carbon nanotubes on desalination process using
molecular dynamics simulations. J. Mol. Liq. 348, 118040.
Abdelhamid, A.E., Khalil, A.M., 2019. Polymeric membranes based on cellulose acetate loaded with candle soot nanoparticles for water desalination.
J. Macromol. Sci. A 56 (2), 153–161.
Achiou, B., Beqqour, D., Elomari, H., Bouazizi, A., Ouammou, M., Bouhria, M., Aaddane, A., Khiat, K., Alami Younssi, S., 2018. Preparation of inexpensive
NaA zeolite membrane on pozzolan support at low temperature for dehydration of alcohol solutions. J. Environ. Chem. Eng. 6, 4429–4437.
Aguilar, S., Bustillos, S., Xue, S., Ji, C.H., Mak, W.H., Rao . . ., E., Kaner, R.B., 2020. Enhancing polyvalent cation rejection using
perfluorophenylazide-grafted-copolymer membrane coatings. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 12 (37), 42030–42040.
Ali, A., Zafar, H., Zia, M., ul Haq, I., Phull, A.R., Ali, J.S., Hussain, A., 2016. Synthesis, characterization, applications, and challenges of iron oxide
nanoparticles. Nanotechnol. Sci. Appl. 9, 49.
Aljundi, I.H., 2017. Desalination characteristics of TFN-RO membrane incorporated with ZIF-8 nanoparticles. Desalination 420, 12–20.
Almomani, F., Vasseghian, Y., Vilas-Boas, J.A., Dragoi, E.N., 2021. Graphene-based nanomaterial for desalination of water: A systematic review and
meta-analysis. Food Chem. Toxicol. 148, 111964.
Ambaye, T.G., Vaccari, M., Prasad, S., van Hullebusch, E.D., Rtimi, S., 2022. Preparation and applications of chitosan and cellulose composite materials.
J. Environ. Manag. 301, 113850.
Aqua Tech, 2021. Does size matter? Meet ten of the world’s largest desalination plants. https://www.aquatechtrade.com/news/desalination/worlds-
largest-desalination-plants/ (Accessed on 30 January 2022).
Azelee, I.W., Goh, P.S., Lau, W.J., Ismail, A.F., Rezaei-DashtArzhandi, M., Wong, K.C., Subramaniam, M.N., 2017. Enhanced desalination of polyamide
thin film nanocomposite incorporated with acid treated multiwalled carbon nanotube-titania nanotube hybrid. Desalination 409, 163–170.
Barrington, L., 2020. Inside the world’s biggest water desalination plants. Reuters (October 13, 2020).
Ben-Sasson, M., Lu, X., Bar-Zeev, E., Zodrow, K.R., Nejati, S., Qi, G., Giannelis, E.P., Elimelech, M., 2014a. In situ formation of silver nanoparticles on
thin-film composite reverse osmosis membranes for biofouling mitigation. Water Res. 62, 260–270.

9
R. Sirohi, Y. Kumar, A. Madhavan et al. Environmental Technology & Innovation 30 (2023) 103108

Ben-Sasson, M., Lu, X., Nejati, S., Jaramillo, H., Elimelech, M., 2016. In situ surface functionalization of reverse osmosis membranes with biocidal
copper nanoparticles. Desalination 388, 1–8.
Ben-Sasson, M., Zodrow, K.R., Genggeng, Q., Kang, Y., Giannelis, E.P., Elimelech, M., 2014b. Surface functionalization of thin-film composite membranes
with copper nanoparticles for antimicrobial surface properties. Environ. Sci. Technol. 48, 384–393.
Bhadra, M., Roy, S., Mitra, S., 2016. A bilayered structure comprised of functionalized carbon nanotubes for desalination by membrane distillation.
ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 8 (30), 19507–19513.
Borrego, B., Lorenzo, G., Mota-Morales, J.D., Almanza-Reyes, H., Mateos, F., López-Gil ., E., Bogdanchikova, N., 2016. Potential application of silver
nanoparticles to control the infectivity of Rift valley fever virus in vitro and in vivo. Nanomed.: Nanotechnol. Biol. Med. 12 (5), 1185–1192.
Cao, S., Rathi, P., Wu, X., Ghim, D., Jun, Y.S., Singamaneni, S., 2021. Cellulose nanomaterials in interfacial evaporators for desalination: A natural
choice. Adv. Mater. 33 (28), 2000922.
Cay, S., Sayin, S., Engin, M.S., 2020. Calix [4] arene embedded polyamide supported liquid membrane for separation of heavy metals from aqueous
solutions. Turk. J. Agric.-Food Sci. Technol. 8 (2), 387–391.
Cheng, Y., Xia, C., Garalleh, H.A., Garaleh, M., Chi, N.T.L., Brindhadevi, K., 2022. A review on optimistic development of polymeric nanocomposite
membrane on environmental remediation. Chemosphere 137706.
Choi, W., Shin, M.G., Yoo, C.H., Park, H., Park, Y.I., Lee, J.S., Lee, J.H., 2021. Desalination membranes with ultralow biofouling via synergistic chemical
and topological strategies. J. Membr. Sci. 626, 119212.
Cohen-Tanugi, D., Grossman, J.C., 2012. Water desalination across nanoporous graphene. Nano Lett. 12 (7), 3602–3608.
Contreras-Martinez, J., Garcia-Payo, C., Arribas, P., Rodriguez-Saez, L., Lejarazu-Larranaga, A., Garcia-Calvo, E., Khayet, M., 2021. Recycled reverse
osmosis membranes for forward osmosis technology. Desalination 519, 115312.
Darre, N.C., Toor, G.S., 2018. Desalination of water: a review. Curr. Pollut. Rep. 4, 104–111.
De Moraes, A.C., Hyun, W.J., Luu, N.S., Lim, J.M., Park, K.Y., Hersam, M.C., 2020. Phase-inversion polymer composite separators based on hexagonal
boron nitride nanosheets for high-temperature lithium-ion batteries. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 12 (7), 8107–8114.
de Paula, E.C., Amaral, M.C.S., 2018. Environmental and economic evaluation of end-of-life reverse osmosis membranes recycling by means of chemical
conversion. J. Clean. Prod. 194, 85–93.
Ding, C., Su, J., 2023. Promoting desalination performance of carbon nanotubes through cationic and anionic surface modifications. Appl. Surf. Sci.
607, 154971.
Dongre, R.S., 2018. Rationally fabricated nanomaterials for desalination and water purification. Novel Nanomater.: Synth. Appl. 271.
Dumee, L., Lee, J., Sears, K., Tardy, B., Duke, M., Gray, S., 2013. Fabrication of thin film composite poly (amide)-carbon-nanotube supported membranes
for enhanced performance in osmotically driven desalination systems. J. Membr. Sci. 427, 422–430.
Duraikkannu, S.L., Castro-Muñoz, R., Figoli, A., 2021. A review on phase-inversion technique-based polymer microsphere fabrication. Colloid Interface
Sci. Commun. 40, 100329.
Ee, L.Y., Tan, R.P.W., Li, S.F.Y., 2023. Facile electrospray fabrication of ultralow biofouling cellulose acetate desalination membrane with
nanocellulose/Uio66-NH2 fillers. J. Membr. Sci. 666, 121200.
Egan, J., Salmon, S., 2022. Strategies and progress in synthetic textile fiber biodegradability. SN Appl. Sci. 4, 1–36.
El-Deen, A.G., Barakat, N.A., Kim, H.Y., 2014. Graphene wrapped MnO2 -nanostructures as effective and stable electrode materials for capacitive
deionization desalination technology. Desalination 344, 289–298.
El Meragawi, S., Panda, M.R., Jovanović, P., Majumder, M., 2023. Current challenges and approaches for energy-efficient ion-selective two-dimensional
graphene-based channelscurrent approaches for ion selective 2D channels. Curr. Opin. Chem. Eng. 39, 100894.
Emadzadeh, D., Lau, W.J., Rahbari-Sisakht, M., Ilbeygi, H., Rana, D., Matsuura, T., Ismail, A.F., 2015. Synthesis, modification and optimization of titanate
nanotubes-polyamide thin film nanocomposite (TFN) membrane for forward osmosis (FO) application. Chem. Eng. J. 281, 243–251.
Esfahani, I.J., Rashidi, J., Ifaei, P., Yoo, C., 2016. Efficient thermal desalination technologies with renewable energy systems: A state-of-the-art review.
Korean J. Chem. Eng. 33, 351–387.
Esposito, S., 2019. Traditional sol–gel chemistry as a powerful tool for the preparation of supported metal and metal oxide catalysts. Materials 12
(4), 668.
Eveloy, V., Rodgers, P., Qiu, L., 2015. Hybrid gas turbine–organic rankine cycle for seawater desalination by reverse osmosis in a hydrocarbon
production facility. Energy Convers. Manage. 106, 1134–1148.
Fang, P., Liu, K., Shao, R., Li, Y., Ji, W., Yang, C., 2022. Phase inversion simulation of polymer PVDF membrane based on a fluid model. Adv. Mech.
Eng. 14 (5), 16878132221095918.
Farahbakhsh, J., Delnavaz, M., Vatanpour, V., 2017. Investigation of raw and oxidized multiwalled carbon nanotubes in fabrication of reverse osmosis
polyamide membranes for improvement in desalination and antifouling properties. Desalination 410, 1–9.
Fuwad, A., Ryu, H., Jeon, T.J., Kim, S.M., 2017. Aquaporin biomimetic membrane for energy conservative water desalination. Biophys. J. 112 (3), 589a.
Gao, W., Zhong, D., Xu, Y., Luo, H., Zeng, S., 2022. Nano zero-valent iron supported by macroporous styrene ion exchange resin for enhanced Cr (VI)
removal from aqueous solution. J. Dispers. Sci. Technol. 43 (8), 1197–1207.
García, G., Aguilar-Mamani, W., Carabante, I., Cabrera, S., Hedlund, J., Mouzon, J., 2015. Preparation of zeolite a with excellent optical properties from
clay. J. Alloys Compd. 619, 771–777.
Giwa, A., Hasan, S.W., Yousuf, A., Chakraborty, S., Johnson, D.J., Hilal, N., 2017. Biomimetic membranes: A critical review of recent progress. Desalination
420, 403–424.
Goh, P.S., Matsuura, T., Ismail, A.F., Hilal, N., 2016. Recent trends in membranes and membrane processes for desalination. Desalination 391, 43–60.
Goh, P.S., Wong, K.C., Ismail, A.F., 2022. Membrane technology: A versatile tool for saline wastewater treatment and resource recovery. Desalination
521, 115377.
Gunawan, P., Guan, C., Song, X., Zhang, Q., Leong, S.S.J., Tang, C., Chen, Y., Chan-Park, M.B., Chang, M.W., Wang, K., Xu, R., 2011. Hollow fiber membrane
decorated with Ag/MWNTs: Toward effective water disinfection and biofouling control. ACS Nano 5, 10033–10040.
Hameed, R.A., Zouli, N., Abutaleb, A., El-Halwany, M.M., El-Newehy, M.H., Yousef, A., 2022. Improving water desalination performance of electrospun
carbon nanofibers by supporting with binary metallic carbide nanoparticles. Ceram. Int. 48 (4), 4741–4753.
Han, L., Tian, J., Liu, C., Lin, J., Chew, J.W., 2021. Influence of pH and NaCl concentration on boron rejection during nanofiltration. Sep. Purif. Technol.
261, 118248.
Hernandez Ruiz, K., Wang, Z., Ciprian, M., Zhu, M., Tu, R., Zhang ., L., Jiang, W., 2022. Chemical vapor deposition mediated phase engineering for 2D
transition metal dichalcogenides: Strategies and applications. Small Sci. 2 (1), 2100047.
Hofmann-Amtenbrink, M., Grainger, D.W., Hofmann, H., 2015. Nanoparticles in medicine: Current challenges facing inorganic nanoparticle toxicity
assessments and standardizations. Nanomed.: Nanotechnol. Biol. Med. 11 (7), 1689–1694.
Honarparvar, S., Zhang, X., Chen, T., Alborzi, A., Afroz, K., Reible, D., 2021. Frontiers of membrane desalination processes for brackish water treatment:
A review. Membranes 11 (4), 246.
Hosseini, M., Azamat, J., Erfan-Niya, H., 2018. Improving the performance of water desalination through ultra-permeable functionalized nanoporous
graphene oxide membrane. Appl. Surf. Sci. 427, 1000–1008.

10
R. Sirohi, Y. Kumar, A. Madhavan et al. Environmental Technology & Innovation 30 (2023) 103108

Hosseini, S.M., Moradi, F., Farahani, S.K., Bandehali, S., Parvizian, F., Ebrahimi, M., Shen, J., 2021. Carbon nanofibers/chitosan nanocomposite thin film
for surface modification of poly (ether sulphone) nanofiltration membrane. Mater. Chem. Phys. 269, 124720.
Hou, D., Wang, J., Sun, X., Ji, Z., Luan, Z., 2012. Preparation and properties of PVDF composite hollow fiber membranes for desalination through direct
contact membrane distillation. J. Membr. Sci. 405, 185–200.
Ibrahim, A.G., Rashad, A.M., Dincer, I., 2017. Exergoeconomic analysis for cost optimization of a solar distillation system. Sol. Energy 151, 22–32.
Jung, B., Ma, S., Khor, C.M., Khanzada, N.K., Anvari, A., Wang ., X., Jassby, D., 2023. Impact of polarity reversal on inorganic scaling on carbon
nanotube-based electrically-conducting nanofiltration membranes. Chem. Eng. J. 452, 139216.
Kayvani Fard, A., McKay, G., Buekenhoudt, A., Al Sulaiti, H., Motmans, F., Khraisheh, M., Atieh, M., 2018. Inorganic membranes: Preparation and
application for water treatment and desalination. Materials 11 (1), 74.
Khalid, A., Al-Juhani, A.A., Al-Hamouz, O.C., Laoui, T., Khan, Z., Atieh, M.A., 2015. Preparation and properties of nanocomposite polysulfone/multi-walled
carbon nanotubes membranes for desalination. Desalination 367, 134–144.
Kommu, A., Namsani, S., Singh, J.K., 2016. Removal of heavy metal ions using functionalized graphene membranes: a molecular dynamics study. RSC
Adv. 6 (68), 63190–63199.
Kosinov, N., Gascon, J., Kapteijn, F., Hensen, E.J.M., 2016. Recent developments in zeolite membranes for gas separation. J. Membr. Sci. 499, 65–79.
Kou, J., Zhou, X., Lu, H., Wu, F., Fan, J., 2014. Graphyne as the membrane for water desalination. Nanoscale 6 (3), 1865–1870.
Kumar, M., Grzelakowski, M., Zilles, J., Clark, M., Meier, W., 2007. Highly permeable polymeric membranes based on the incorporation of the functional
water channel protein Aquaporin Z. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 104 (52), 20719–20724.
Lahnafi, A., Elgamouz, A., Tijani, N., Jaber, L., Kawde, A.-N., 2022. Hydrothermal synthesis and electrochemical characterization of novel zeolite
membranes supported on flat porous clay-based microfiltration system and its application of heavy metals removal of synthetic wastewaters.
Microporous Mesop. Mater. 334, 111778.
Lai, J., Sunderland, B., Xue, J., Yan, S., Zhao, W., Folkard ., M., Wang, Y., 2006. Study on hydrophilicity of polymer surfaces improved by plasma
treatment. Appl. Surf. Sci. 252 (10), 3375–3379.
Lalia, B.S., Guillen, E., Arafat, H.A., Hashaikeh, R., 2014. Nanocrystalline cellulose reinforced PVDF-HFP membranes for membrane distillation application.
Desalination 332 (1), 134–141.
Lee, J., Kim, I.S., Hwang, M.H., Chae, K.J., 2020. Atomic layer deposition and electrospinning as membrane surface engineering methods for water
treatment: a short review. Environ. Sci.: Water Res. Technol. 6 (7), 1765–1785.
Li, X., Chou, S., Wang, R., Shi, L., Fang, W., Chaitra ., G., Fane, A.G., 2015. Nature gives the best solution for desalination: Aquaporin-based hollow
fiber composite membrane with superior performance. J. Membr. Sci. 494, 68–77.
Li, F., Huang, X., Liu, J.X., Zhang, G.J., 2020. Sol–gel derived porous ultra-high temperature ceramics. J. Adv. Ceram. 9, 1–16.
Li, Z., Linares, R.V., Bucs, S., Fortunato, L., Hélix-Nielsen, C., Vrouwenvelder ., J.S., Amy, G., 2017. Aquaporin based biomimetic membrane in forward
osmosis: Chemical cleaning resistance and practical operation. Desalination 420, 208–215.
Li, Y., Qi, S., Tian, M., Widjajanti, W., Wang, R., 2019. Fabrication of aquaporin-based biomimetic membrane for seawater desalination. Desalination
467, 103–112.
Liu, M., Xue, Z., Zhang, H., Li, Y., 2021. Dual-channel membrane capacitive deionization based on asymmetric ion adsorption for continuous water
desalination. Electrochem. Commun. 125, 106974.
Liyanage, A.A.H., Biswas, P.K., Dalir, H., Agarwal, M., 2023. Engineering uniformity in mass production of MWCNTs/epoxy nanofibers using a lateral
belt-driven multi-nozzle electrospinning technique to enhance the mechanical properties of CFRPs. Polym. Test. 118, 107883.
Lu, H., Wang, J., Stoller, M., Wang, T., Bao, Y., Hao, H., 2016. An overview of nanomaterials for water and wastewater treatment. Adv. Mater. Sci.
Eng. 2016.
Ma, Z., Gao, C., Yuan, J., Ji, J., Gong, Y., Shen, J., 2002. Surface modification of poly-l-lactide by photografting of hydrophilic polymers towards improving
its hydrophilicity. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 85 (10), 2163–2171.
Ma, Y., Shi, F., Ma, J., Wu, M., Zhang, J., Gao, C., 2011. Effect of PEG additive on the morphology and performance of polysulfone ultrafiltration
membranes. Desalination 272 (1–3), 51–58.
Medina-Gonzalez, Y., Remigy, J.C., 2011. Sonication-assisted preparation of pristine MWCNT–polysulfone conductive microporous membranes. Mater.
Lett. 65 (2), 229–232.
Mishra, A.K., Ramaprabhu, S., 2011. Functionalized graphene sheets for arsenic removal and desalination of sea water. Desalination 282, 39–45.
Moreira, J.C., Santa, R.A.A.B., Nones, J., Riella, H.G., 2018. Synthesis of zeolite 4a for obtaining zeolite 5a by ionic exchange for full utilization of waste
from paper industry. Braz. J. Chem. Eng. 35, 623–630.
Mousavi Anijdan, S.H., Sabzi, M., Asadian, M., Jafarian, H.R., 2019. Effect of sub-layer temperature during HFCVD process on morphology and corrosion
behavior of tungsten carbide coating. Int. J. Appl. Ceram. Technol. 16 (1), 243–253.
Nakhli, S.A.A., Delkash, M., Bakhshayesh, B.E., Kazemian, H., 2017. Application of zeolites for sustainable agriculture: a review on water and nutrient
retention. Water Air Soil Pollut. 228 (464).
Nambi Krishnan, J., Venkatachalam, K.R., Ghosh, O., Jhaveri, K., Palakodeti, A., Nair, N., 2022. Review of thin film nanocomposite membranes and
their applications in desalination. Front. Chem. 10 (6).
Nikazar, S., Barani, M., Rahdar, A., Zoghi, M., Kyzas, G.Z., 2020. Photo-and magnetothermally responsive nanomaterials for therapy, controlled drug
delivery and imaging applications. ChemistrySelect 5 (40), 12590–12609.
Prabha, A.S., Dorothy, R., Jancirani, S., Rajendran, S., Singh, G., Kumaran, S.S., 2020. Recent advances in the study of toxicity of polymer-based
nanomaterials. Nanotoxicity 143–165.
Qian, Y., Chen, L., Zhu, L., 2023. Electrothermal heating in direct contact membrane distillation via PTFE membrane coated by tea polyphenols and
carbon nanotube for enhanced conductivity and long-term stability. J. Membr. Sci. 668, 121196.
Qiu, S., Li, Y., Qi, P., Meng, D., Sun, J., Li ., H., Zhang, S., 2021. Improving the flame retardancy and accelerating the degradation of poly (lactic acid)
in soil by introducing fully bio-based additives. Int. J. Biol. Macromol. 193, 44–52.
Ravi, J., Othman, M.H.D., Matsuura, T., Bilad, M.R.I., El-Badawy, T.H., Aziz ., F., Jaafar, J., 2020. Polymeric membranes for desalination using membrane
distillation: A review. Desalination 490, 114530.
Ray, S.S., Chen, S.S., Li, C.W., Nguyen, N.C., Nguyen, H.T., 2016. A comprehensive review: Electrospinning technique for fabrication and surface
modification of membranes for water treatment application. RSC Adv. 6 (88), 85495–85514.
Raza, M.A., Islam, A., Sabir, A., Gull, N., Ali, I., Mehmood ., R., Khan, M.U., 2019. PVA/TEOS crosslinked membranes incorporating zinc oxide nanoparticles
and sodium alginate to improve reverse osmosis performance for desalination. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 136 (22), 47559.
Rolf, J., Cao, T., Huang, X., Boo, C., Li, Q., Elimelech, M., 2022. Inorganic scaling in membrane desalination: models, mechanisms, and characterization
methods. Environ. Sci. Technol. 56 (12), 7484–7511.
Rosli, N.A., Karamanlioglu, M., Kargarzadeh, H., Ahmad, I., 2021. Comprehensive exploration of natural degradation of poly (lactic acid) blends in
various degradation media: A review. Int. J. Biol. Macromol. 187, 732–741.
Rozhkovskaya, A., Rajapakse, J., Millar, G.J., 2021. Process engineering approach to conversion of alum sludge and waste glass into zeolite LTA for
water softening. J. Water Process. Eng. 43, 102177.

11
R. Sirohi, Y. Kumar, A. Madhavan et al. Environmental Technology & Innovation 30 (2023) 103108

Sabzi, M., Mousavi Anijdan, S.H., Shamsodin, M., Farzam, M., Hojjati-Najafabadi, A., Feng ., P., Lee, U., 2023. A review on sustainable manufacturing
of ceramic-based thin films by chemical vapor deposition (CVD): Reactions kinetics and the deposition mechanisms. Coatings 13 (1), 188.
Sharif, S., Ahmad, K.S., Rehman, F., Bhatti, Z., Thebo, K.H., 2021. Two-dimensional graphene oxide based membranes for ionic and molecular separation:
Current status and challenges. J. Environ. Chem. Eng. 9 (4), 105605.
Shawky, H.A., Yaseen, R., Kotp, Y.H., Eissa, D., 2020. Biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles and its effect on TFC RO membrane for groundwater
desalination. Desalin. Water Treat. 193, 34–47.
Song, J., Liu, M., Zhang, Y., 2015. Ion-exchange adsorption of calcium ions from water and geothermal water with modified zeolite A. AIChE J. 61
(2), 640–654.
Sun, G., Chung, T.S., Jeyaseelan, K., Armugam, A., 2013. Stabilization and immobilization of aquaporin reconstituted lipid vesicles for water purification.
Colloids Surfaces B 102, 466–471.
Tang, Y., Li, N., Liu, A., Ding, S., Yi, C., Liu, H., 2012. Effect of spinning conditions on the structure and performance of hydrophobic PVDF hollow
fiber membranes for membrane distillation. Desalination 287, 326–339.
Tang, C., Wang, Z., Petrinić, I., Fane, A.G., Hélix-Nielsen, C., 2015. Biomimetic aquaporin membranes coming of age. Desalination 368, 89–105.
Teow, Y.H., Mohammad, A.W., 2019. New generation nanomaterials for water desalination: A review. Desalination 451, 2–17.
Vatanpour, V., Esmaeili, M., Farahani, M.H.D.A., 2014. Fouling reduction and retention increment of polyethersulfone nanofiltration membranes
embedded by amine-functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes. J. Membr. Sci. 466, 70–81.
Wang, R., Chen, D., Wang, Q., Ying, Y., Gao, W., Xie, L., 2020a. Recent advances in applications of carbon nanotubes for desalination: A review.
Nanomaterials 10 (6), 1203.
Wang, Z., Dou, B., Zheng, L., Zhang, G., Liu, Z., Hao, Z., 2012. Effective desalination by capacitive deionization with functional graphene nanocomposite
as novel electrode material. Desalination 299, 96–102.
Wang, C., Leng, S., Guo, H., Cao, L., Huang, J., 2019. Acid and alkali treatments for regulation of hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity of natural zeolite. Appl.
Surf. Sci. 478, 319–326.
Wang, Y., Li, Q., Tang, G., Zhang, N., 2021. Recent progress on carbon based desalination membranes and carbon nanomaterial incorporated
non-polyamide desalination membranes. J. Environ. Chem. Eng. 9 (4), 105762.
Wang, L., Liu, N., Guo, Z., Wu, D., Chen, W., Chang ., Z., Wang, J., 2016. Nitric acid-treated carbon fibers with enhanced hydrophilicity for Candida
tropicalis immobilization in xylitol fermentation. Materials 9 (3), 206.
Wang, N., Liu, Y., Huang, A., Caro, J., 2015. Hydrophilic SOD and LTA membranes for membrane-supported methanol, dimethylether and
dimethylcarbonate synthesis. Microporous Mesop. Mater. 207, 33–38.
Wang, Q., Sun, J., Xue, W., Zhao, G., Ding, W., Zhang ., K., Li, Y., 2023. Effect of carbon nanotube nanochannel on the separation performance of
thin-film nanocomposite (TFN) membranes. Desalination 546, 116216.
Wei, X., Zhao, B., Li, X.M., Wang, Z., He, B.Q., He, T., Jiang, B., 2012. CF4 plasma surface modification of asymmetric hydrophilic polyethersulfone
membranes for direct contact membrane distillation. J. Membr. Sci. 407, 164–175.
Wen, Y., Zhang, X., Li, X., Wang, Z., Tang, C.Y., 2020. Metal–organic framework nanosheets for thin-film composite membranes with enhanced
permeability and selectivity. ACS Appl. Nano Mater. 3 (9), 9238–9248.
Wijnhoven, S.W.P., Peijnenburg, W.J.G.M., Herberts, C.A., Hagens, W.I., Oomen, A.G., Heugens, E.H.W., Roszek, B., Bisschops, J., Gosens, I., Van
De Meent, D., Dekkers, S., De Jong, W.H., van Zijverden, M., Sips, A.J.A.M., Geertsma, R.E., 2009. Nano-silver – a review of available data and
knowledge gaps in human and environmental risk assessment. Nanotoxicology 3, 109–138.
Wu, Q., Miao, W.S., Zhang, Y.D., Gao, H.J., Hui, D., 2020. Mechanical properties of nanomaterials: A review. Nanotechnol. Rev. 9 (1), 259–273.
Xue, Z., Li, Z., Ma, J., Bai, X., Kang, Y., Hao, W., Li, R., 2014. Effective removal of Mg2+ and Ca2+ ions by mesoporous LTA zeolite. Desalination 341,
10–18.
Yin, J., Yang, Y., Hu, Z., Deng, B., 2013. Attachment of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) onto thin-film composite (TFC) membranes through covalent
bonding to reduce membrane biofouling. J. Membr. Sci. 441, 73–82.
Yu, G., Wang, X., Liu, J., Jiang, P., You, S., Ding ., N., Lin, F., 2021. Applications of nanomaterials for heavy metal removal from water and soil: A
review. Sustainability 13 (2), 713.
Zareei, F., Hosseini, S.M., 2019. A new type of polyethersulfone based composite nanofiltration membrane decorated by cobalt ferrite-copper oxide
nanoparticles with enhanced performance and antifouling property. Sep. Purif. Technol. 226, 48–58. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.seppur.2019.05.077.
Zhang, Z., Li, H., 2022. Reconfiguring the interface charge of Co@ carbon polyhedron for enhanced capacitive deionization. Chem. Eng. J. 447, 137438.
Zhang, X., Shi, X., Gautrot, J.E., Peijs, T., 2021. Nanoengineered electrospun fibers and their biomedical applications: a review. Nanocomposites 7 (1),
1–34.
Zhao, Y., Qiu, C., Li, X., Vararattanavech, A., Shen, W., Torres ., J., Tang, C.Y., 2012. Synthesis of robust and high-performance aquaporin-based
biomimetic membranes by interfacial polymerization-membrane preparation and RO performance characterization. J. Membr. Sci. 423, 422–428.
Zhao, Y.F., Zhu, L.P., Yi, Z., Zhu, B.K., Xu, Y.Y., 2013. Improving the hydrophilicity and fouling-resistance of polysulfone ultrafiltration membranes via
surface zwitterionicalization mediated by polysulfone-based triblock copolymer additive. J. Membr. Sci. 440, 40–47.
Zhao, D., Zuo, J., Lu, K.J., Chung, T.S., 2017. Fluorographite modified PVDF membranes for seawater desalination via direct contact membrane distillation.
Desalination 413, 119–126.
Zhong, P.S., Chung, T.S., Jeyaseelan, K., Armugam, A., 2012. Aquaporin-embedded biomimetic membranes for nanofiltration. J. Membr. Sci. 407, 27–33.
Zito, P., Shipley, H.J., 2015. Inorganic nano-adsorbents for the removal of heavy metals and arsenic: a review. RSC Adv. 5 (38), 29885–29907.

12