Fabrication and characterization of a polysulfone-graphene oxide nanocomposite membrane for arsenate rejection from water

Abstract

BackgroundNowadays, study and application of modified membranes for water treatment have been considered significantly. The aim of this study was to prepare and characterize a polysulfone (PSF)/graphene oxide (GO) nanocomposite membrane and to evaluate for arsenate rejection from water.Materials and methodsThe nanocomposite PSF/GO membrane was fabricated using wet phase inversion method. The effect of GO on the synthesized membrane morphology and hydrophilicity was studied by using FE-SEM, AFM, contact angle, zeta potential, porosity and pore size tests. The membrane performance was also evaluated in terms of pure water flux and arsenate rejection.ResultsATR-FTIR confirmed the presence of hydrophilic functional groups on the surface of the prepared GO. FE-SEM micrographs showed that with increasing GO content in the casting solution, the sub-layer structure was enhanced and the drop like voids in the pure PSF membrane changed to macrovoids in PSF/GO membrane along with increase in porosity. AFM images indicated lower roughness of modified membrane compared to pure PSF membrane. Furthermore, contact angle measurement and permeation experiment showed that by increasing GO up to 1 wt%, membrane hydrophilicity and pure water flux were increased. For PSF/GO-1, pure water flux was calculated about 50 L/m2h at 4 bar. The maximum rejection was obtained by PSF/GO-2 about 83.65 % at 4 bar. Moreover, it was revealed that arsenate rejection depended on solution pH values. It was showed that with increasing pH, the rejection increased.ConclusionsThis study showed that application of GO as an additive to PSF casting solution could enhance the membrane hydrophilicity, porosity, flux and arsenate rejection.

Fabrication and characterization of graphene oxide–polyethersulfone (GO–PES) composite flat sheet and hollow fiber membranes for oil–water separation

“…. The use of hydrophilic additive is known to significantly improve the flux performance and minimize fouling issue of membranes . However, as the addition of additives can directly affect the membrane morphology, it is important to observe the interaction between PES and GO during the phase inversion process.…”

“…The use of hydrophilic additive is known to significantly improve the flux performance and minimize fouling issue of membranes. 47 However, as the addition of additives can directly affect the membrane morphology, it is important to observe the interaction between PES and GO during the phase inversion process. The prepared membranes were observed to possess an asymmetric structure that comprised of a porous support/sub-layer that has cellular morphologies and a thin dense skin layer.…”

Durable pressure filtration membranes based on polyaniline–polyimide P84 blends

“…The PI membrane was found to have a higher surface negativity. The negatively charged membrane caused the Donnan repulsion with the foulants and contributed to a better antifouling mechanism . When compared with the pure membranes, the PANI/PI blend membranes, especially the PANI/PI19 and PANI/PI20, exhibited a better performance in terms of the normalized flux.…”

“…The porosity and mean pore size of the membranes were determined by a gravimetric method using Eqs . and , respectively . Initially, the pre‐wetted membranes were cut into small pieces of approximately 1 × 1 cm.…”

Humic acid removal from water using a novel fabricated antifouling carbon nanotube bucky - paper membrane and effect of operating parameters

“…In recent years various nanomaterials have been widely applied for water and wastewater treatment aspects especially for novel membranes fabrication and modification (Dumée et al, 2011;Jafari et al, 2015;Rezaee et al, 2015). Accordingly Carbon nanotube (CNT) as a dramatic product of nanotechnology has been used for new type of membrane synthesis and application (Dumée et al, 2011;Gilani et al, 2013;Vatanpour et al, 2011).…”