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Promoted water transport across graphene oxide-poly(amide) thin film composite membranes and their antibacterial activity

journal contribution
posted on 2015-06-01, 00:00 authored by Li He, Ludovic DumeeLudovic Dumee, Chunfang Feng, L Velleman, R Reis, Fenghua SheFenghua She, Weimin Gao, Lingxue KongLingxue Kong
Hybrid composite membranes have great potential for desalination applications since water transport can be favorably promoted by selective diffusion at the interface between matrix and reinforcement materials. In this paper, graphene oxide nano-sheets were successfully incorporated across 200nm thick poly(amide) films by interfacial polymerization to form novel thin-film composite membranes. The impact of the graphene oxide on the morphology, chemistry, and surface charge of the ultra-thin poly(amide) layer, and the ability to desalinate seawater was investigated. The graphene oxide nano-sheets were found to be well dispersed across the composite membranes, leading to a lower membrane surface energy and an enhanced hydrophilicity. The iso-electric point of the samples, key to surface charge repulsion during desalination, was found to be consistently shifted to higher pH values with an increasing graphene oxide content. Compared to a pristine poly(amide) membrane, the pure water flux across the composite membranes with 0.12wt.% of graphene oxide was also found to increase by up to 80% from 0.122 to 0.219L·μm·m-2·h-1·bar-1 without significantly affecting salt selectivity. Furthermore, the inhibitory effects of the composite membrane on microbial growth were evaluated and the novel composite membranes exhibited superior anti-microbial activity and may act as a potential anti-fouling membrane material.

History

Journal

Desalination

Volume

365

Pagination

126 - 135

Publisher

Elsevier

ISSN

0011-9164

Language

eng

Publication classification

C Journal article; C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Copyright notice

2015, Elsevier