Investigating Hydrogen Substituted Graphdiyne’s Potential as a Water Desalination Filter

Publication Date

2026

Presentation Length

Poster/Gallery presentation

College

College of Sciences & Mathematics

Department

Biology, Department of

Student Level

Undergraduate

Faculty Mentor

Beth Bowman

Presentation Type

Poster

Summary

Water is necessary for life, but it is also finite and overused. Water desalination could alleviate water stress by allowing oceanwater to be a source of drinkable water. While water desalination is an established practice, it is not widespread due to its high costs, high energy consumption, and technical obstacles. This study focused on a new material for water desalination called hydrogen substituted graphdiyne (HsGDY) because it has pores small enough to, possibly, prevent the technical challenges facing reverse osmosis desalination. The study involved calculating the size of the pores in HsGDY and developing a system to synthesize HsGDY membranes. Results show that pores in HsGDY membranes can block hydrated ions larger than 34 Å2, and that the third iteration of the system was successful, as demonstrated by the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) images of samples indicating that that 1,3,5-triethynylbenzene (TEB) was deposited on the copper substrate. Future studies can use Raman spectroscopy as well as SEM to identify the presence of HsGDY membranes. For more effective membrane growth, a higher furnace temperature and slower flow rate could be used to allow more TEB and tetramethylethylenediamine (TMEDA)- the two precursors for HsGDY- to deposit on to the copper membrane and more growth to occur.

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