Water flow in Carbon and Silicon Carbide nanotubes

TL;DR

This study compares water and ion flow through carbon and silicon carbide nanotubes under various pressures, revealing pressure-dependent suitability for desalination applications based on molecular dynamics simulations.

Contribution

It provides a direct comparison of water conduction in carbon and silicon carbide nanotubes with specific chiral vectors, highlighting pressure-dependent performance differences.

Findings

Silicon carbide nanotubes are more effective at lower pressures (<150 MPa).

Carbon nanotubes outperform at higher pressures for desalination.

Flow rates vary significantly with applied hydrostatic pressure.

Abstract

In this work the conduction of ion-water solution through two discrete bundles of armchair carbon and silicon carbide nanotubes, as useful membranes for water desalination, is studied. In order that studies on different types of nanotubes be comparable, the chiral vectors of C and Si-C nanotubes are selected as (7,7) and (5,5), respectively, so that a similar volume of fluid is investigated flowing through two similar dimension membranes. Different hydrostatic pressures are applied and the flow rates of water and ions are calculated through molecular dynamics simulations. Consequently, according to conductance of water per each nanotube, per nanosecond, it is perceived that at lower pressures (below 150 MPa) the Si-C nanotubes seem to be more applicable, while higher hydrostatic pressures make carbon nanotube membranes more suitable for water desalination.