Abstract

Graphene, a well-known two-dimensional carbon, exhibits superb mechanical, electrical and thermal properties owing to the unique atomistic structures, making it an ideal candidate for assembling graphene-derived membranes. However, it remains a great challenge to assemble graphene into high-performance membranes using traditional approaches. Inspired by the Mother Nature, nacre provides a perfect guideline for assembling macroscopic membranes based on the nano-building blocks of graphene and its derivatives (e.g., graphene oxide) that feature distinct layered structures like nacre and excellent tunable physicochemical properties. The reported high specific strength, specific stiffness, electrical conductivity, selectivity and permeability of graphene-derived membranes demonstrate the potential of their wide applications in load-transfer, flexible electronics and separation membranes, which has attracted great scientific and industrial interest. This chapter aims to assess the state-of-the-art advances in graphene-derived membranes made in both theories and experiments over the past decade, which begins from fundamental properties of graphene at the nanoscale and then comes into the practical aspects of design, synthesis and use of graphene-derived membranes in potential applications.