A molecular view on the stability of graphene oxide (GO) composite membranes in an aqueous environment

Climate change, poor water management and decarbonisation goals will worsen water shortage in the next future therefore the problem is on the agenda. Since freshwater is already lacking in many countries, the biggest natural water resource on Earth is now exploited: sea water. To this day, there are 1200 operating desalination plants located in EU Member States across the Mediterranean region. 91% of them rely on membrane-based technologies. One promising candidate for water treatment are Graphene Oxide (GO) membranes, because of their great performances in terms of selectivity and permeation. GO membranes need substrates to increase their stability and avoid swelling or delamination. On this work we investigate the stability of GO membranes on different polymeric substrates via Molecular Dynamics (MD). MD can give an atomic insight on the mechanisms that lead to GO membrane great features. The simulation results are compared with experimental data.