Study of sorption properties of carbon nanotubes for water purification from inorganic impurities

Studies of adsorption properties of carbon nanotubes with respect to inorganic molecules have been carried out. Theoretical quantum-chemical calculations of the interaction of the most common impurity molecules in water with carbon nanotubes were made. Analysis of modern water purification filters shows the general disadvantage of all modern filters - they clean water only from a certain type of pollution. In order to clean water from a wide range of different pollutants, it is necessary to carry out multistage purification, with different types of filters, which is very resource intensive, and takes quite a long time. Using carbon nanomaterials as filters will solve this problem. For the study, the most common inorganic substances were chosen, which are most often found in drinking water: calcium chloride CaCl2, magnesium chloride MgCl2, sodium chloride NaCl, calcium carbonate CaCO3, magnesium carbonate MgCO3, calcium sulfate CaSO4, magnesium sulfate MgSO4. Processes of adsorption interaction of selected inorganic impurity molecules to the surface of single- layer carbon nanotubes of type (6,6) were investigated. Surface profiles of potential energy of interaction of molecules (calcium, magnesium and sodium salts) with surface of carbon nanotube are constructed. The positive effect of carbon nanostructures on the process of water purification from inorganic impurities is shown, meaning the possibility of using CNT as a filter for water purification.