Synthesis of graphene oxide/polyacrylamide composite membranes for organic dyes/water separation in water purification

• Published in: Journal of materials science 2019, Vol.54 (1), p.252-264
• Main Authors: Cheng, Meng-meng, Huang, Lin-jun, Wang, Yan-xin, Zhao, Yun-chao, Tang, Jian-guo, Wang, Yao, Zhang, Yang, Hedayati, Mohammadhasan, Kipper, Matt J., Wickramasinghe, S. Ranil
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Analysis; Aqueous solutions; Atomic force microscopy; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemical Routes to Materials; Chemistry and Materials Science; Classical Mechanics; Contact angle; Crystallography and Scattering Methods; Desalination; Fourier transforms; Graphene; Graphite; Interlayers; Materials Science; Membranes; Microscopy; Nanofiltration; Photoelectrons; Polymer Sciences; Rhodamine; Scanning electron microscopy; Separation; Solid Mechanics; Spectroscopy; Spectrum analysis; Thermogravimetric analysis; Transmission electron microscopy; Vacuum filtration; Water purification; Water resources; X-ray diffraction
• ISSN: 0022-2461; 1573-4803
• DOI: 10.1007/s10853-018-2828-9

To obtain nanofiltration membranes with high-performance in desalination and water purification, membranes of graphene oxide (GO), reduced graphene oxide (rGO) and GO/polyacrylamide (PAM) are prepared by a vacuum filtration method. This method is conducted in aqueous solution without any organic solvents. The graphene-based membranes (GBMs) are characterized by UV–visible spectroscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The hydrophilicity of GBMs is also evaluated by contact angle measurement. The interlayer spacing of GO membrane (0.85 nm), GO/PAM membrane (0.68 nm) and rGO membrane (0.36 nm) are measured by X-ray diffraction. The performance of the GBMs is evaluated on a dead-end filtration device. The water flux and retention of rhodamine B of the membranes are 399.04 L m −2  h −1  bar −1 and 85.03% (GO), 188.89 L m −2  h −1  bar −1 and 95.43% (GO/PAM), 85.85 L m −2  h −1  bar −1 and 97.06% (rGO), respectively. The GO/PAM membrane has the best comprehensive separation performance because of its proper interlayer spacing. GO/PAM membranes provide potential advantages in the design of high-performance membranes for molecular separation and water purification.