Beräkningar av bindningsenergier mellan grafenoxid och vattenföroreningar med Density Functional Theory: En inledande studie för utvärdering av grafenoxid som vattenrenare

Abstract

Access to clean water is a necessity for humans, but despite today's advanced treatment of drinking water there are still many harmful molecules left when the water is to be used. Current water purifying methods are insufficent and thus, there is need for more research in the area. This study therefore examines if graphene oxide could be used to remove perfluorinated substances and trihalomethanes from drinking water. The study has been carried out using quantum mechanical calculations to examine the binding energies between the harmful molecules and graphene oxide. The calculations are based on Density Functional Theory which numerically calculates the energy of an atomic scale system. The study's results are entirely based on calculations done by software designed for that purpose and could be the basis for further research in the area. The results indicate that the absolute value of the binding energies between graphene oxide and the investigated molecules are in the range of 400-1200 meV. These binding energies are similar to the binding energies from other studies where adsorption onto graphene oxide has been investigated, indicating that graphene oxide has the potential to separate the molecules of interest from the water. Significant contribution to the binding energies comes from hydrogen bonding which occurs between the graphene oxide's functional groups and the hydrogen and fluorine atoms of the molecules. To verify that graphene oxide can actually be used as a water purifier it is necessary to perform calculations that include a water environment and to carry out experimental measurements.