  We study the behavior of hydrated graphite oxide (GO) at high temperatures
using thermally accelerated molecular dynamics simulations based on ab initio
density functional theory. Our results suggest that GO, a viable candidate for
water treatment and desalination membranes, is more heat resilient than
currently used organic materials. The system we consider to represent important
aspects of thermal processes in highly disordered GO is a hydrated GO bilayer
in vacuum. Our study provides microscopic insight into reactions involving
water and functional epoxy-O and OH-groups bonded to graphene layers, and also
describes the swelling of the structure by water vapor pressure at elevated
temperatures. We find the system to withstand simulation temperatures up to
${\approx}$2,500 K before the graphitic layers start decomposing, implying the
possibility of cleaning biofouling residue from a GO-based membrane by heating
in an inert gas atmosphere.
