Graphene oxide (GO) is a promising nanomaterial which has been used for varied applications. In this study, the capacity of GO for salt water purification is being demonstrated on paper substrate for the first time. We show that our platform can provide deep insights on the salt rejection procedure by the mechanism of surface adsorption where free sodium ions in saltwater solution are immobilised onto functional groups of multi-layered graphene oxide nanosheets. The device presented in this work achieved ~ 97 % salt rejection without additional energy input in the desalination process; hence, the device is cost effective, portable, sustainable, scalable and environmentally friendly. Further, the technique of surface adsorption by functional group grafting could be extended to study nanoparticle mediated ion capture in biological environment.
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