Electrically conducting reverse osmosis membranes

1. An electrically conductive composite membrane comprising a polymer support, a functionalized carbon nanotube (CNT) layer on the polymer support, and a polyamide-CNT layer on the CNT layer, wherein the polyamide-CNT layer comprises CNTs incorporated within a polyamide matrix, and wherein the electrically conductive composite membrane has electric conductivity of about 400 S/m.

2. The electrically conductive membrane of claim 1 , wherein the CNTs form ester bonds with trimesoyl choloride.

3. The electrically conductive composite membrane of claim 1 formed by:

pressure depositing a solution of functionalized carbon nanotubes onto a polymer membrane support to form a CNT-membrane composite; and

drying the composite.

4. The electrically conductive composite membrane of claim 3 , wherein the functionalized carbon nanotubes are prepared by placing functionalized carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in powder form in deionized water at a concentration of about 0.05 to about 0.15 mg/ml together with a surfactant and sonicating suspension to form a solution.

5. The electrically conductive composite membrane of claim 4 , wherein the surfactant is sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate.

6. The electrically conductive composite membrane of claim 4 , wherein the solution is centrifuged to remove clumps and debris.

7. The electrically conductive composite membrane of claim 3 , wherein the pressure depositing is performed at a pressure of about 50 psi or greater on a membrane support.

8. The electrically conductive composite of claim 1 or 3 , wherein the functionalized carbon nanotubes are functionalized with COOH, OH, and/or NH 2 functional groups.

9. The electrically conductive composite of claim 1 or 3 , wherein the carbon nanotubes are single-walled, multi-walled, or double-walled carbon nanotubes.

10. The electrically conductive composite of claim 1 or 3 , wherein the membrane support comprises a polyethersulfone or polysulfone.