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

• DOI: 10.1007/s10853-018-2828-9
• Publication Date: 2018-08-20T11:29:28Z
• Authors: Meng-meng Cheng; Lin-jun Huang; Yan-xin Wang; Yun-chao Zhao; Jian-guo Tang; Yao Wang; Yang Zhang; Mohammadhasan Hed...; Matt J. Kipper; S. Ranil Wickrama...
• Keywords: Nanofiltration; Polyacrylamide; Rhodamine B; Thermogravimetric analysis; Filtration (mathematics)

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.