There is growing interest in the development of forward osmosis (FO) process for cost-effective production of fresh water from seawater and other water sources and wastewater reclamation. We have reported that stimuli-responsive polymer hydrogels have the potential for use as a class of draw agent for forward osmosis process, enabling pure water production using solar heating and low-grade industrial waste heat. By incorporating graphene nanosheets into polymer hydrogels, significant improvements have been achieved in FO water flux and solar dewatering. In addition, we have recently prepared highly crosslinked, laminated graphene-polymer thin film composite membranes, which show high water flux and salt rejection in FO process.  

There is growing interest in the development of forward osmosis (FO) process for cost-effective production of fresh water from seawater and other water sources and wastewater reclamation. We have reported that stimuli-responsive polymer hydrogels have the potential for use as a class of draw agent for forward osmosis process, enabling pure water production using solar heating and low-grade industrial waste heat. By incorporating graphene nanosheets into polymer hydrogels, significant improvements have been achieved in FO water flux and solar dewatering. In addition, we have recently prepared highly crosslinked, laminated graphene-polymer thin film composite membranes, which show high water flux and salt rejection in FO process.