Seminar of the School of Physical Sciences
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Application of Graphene and Graphene Oxide
Rakesh Joshi
(University of New South Wales, Sydney)
Date: December 11, 2017 (Monday)
Abstract: Graphene is a one atom thick layer of carbon atoms. Its extraordinary behavior is owed to the atomic arrangement and 2D nature. Single layer graphene is impermeable to all gases and liquids but graphene oxide exhibits highly selective permeability to water molecules and has thus shown potential for filtration applications. Graphene oxide can be prepared from graphite by introducing oxygenated functionalities using oxidizing agents. These functionalities expand the layer separation between two stacked layers and make the material hydrophilic. I will discuss our recent developments on application of graphene based membranes for water purification and water absorption. We have achieved extremely high water flux for graphene based membranes in practical conditions. Our graphene oxide membranes show outstanding water adsorption properties and it outperforms silica gel a commercial benchmark for desiccation. I will present water filtration and water adsorption characteristics of graphene oxide membranes. In addition, I will present our findings on CVD graphene and introduce our recently developed Green-CVD method.
Bio: Rakesh Joshi is a Lecturer at the School of Material Science and Engineering of UNSW Sydney. Joshi held a Marie Curie International Fellowship at the University of Manchester under the supervision of Prof. Geim. Joshi has a PhD in Semiconductor Nanotechnology from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, India. Joshi is also the Research Director of the Global Graphene Application Pty Ltd. Joshi is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC). He is among a select group of researchers who have been awarded each of the world’s most prestigious relevant International Research Fellowships; the (1) Japan Society for Promotion of Science (JSPS) Invitation Fellowship; the (2) Alexander von Humboldt Experience Researcher Fellowship and the (3) Marie Curie International Fellowship (European Union).