Exploring the effects of graphene oxide concentration on properties and antifouling performance of PEES/GO ultrafiltration membranes

Abstract

In this study, asymmetric polyphenylene-ether-ether-sulfone (PEES) ultrafiltration (UF) membranes containing graphene oxide (GO) were prepared via non-solvent-induced phase separation process and N-methyl pyrrolidone was used as a solvent. The synthesis of GO was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction analysis. The morphology of the prepared GO nanosheets was observed by field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) and transmission electron microscope. The membranes prepared with increasing concentrations of GO nanosheets were characterized by attenuated total reflectance-FTIR, SEM, atomic force microscopy (AFM), contact angle, and UF studies. The FTIR spectra of the GO embedded membranes reveal large amounts of –OH groups present due to the existence of GO nanosheets which improved its surface hydrophilicity. The contact angle of PEES/GO membrane was significantly lower than PEES membrane. The SEM pictures showed that PEES/GO UF membranes had a sponge-like substructure with the increased porosity and pore size. An AFM topography imaging showed that roughnesses of the modified membranes were improved compared to the pristine PEES membrane. The UF studies showed that the pure water flux ( JW) and the bovine serum albumin flux ( JP) were increased with the incorporation of GO into the blend solution. For the membrane with 0.1% GO content, JW increased by 75% and JP improved twofold which correspond to the maximum values of 186 and 113 L m−2 h−1, respectively. Furthermore, the flux recovery ratio results suggested that PEES/GO membranes have better antifouling characteristics due to the changes in membrane morphology and surface hydrophilicity.

Development of poly(ℇ‐caprolactone)‐based composite packaging films incorporated nanofillers for enhanced strawberry quality

“…The Ra measurements showed that the PCL surface showed average roughness of 21.2 ± 3.1 nm, and for PCL reinforced with GO, fGO, GO/TiO 2 , and fGO/TiO 2 , it was found to be 53.4 ± 4.1, 34.1 ± 1.2, 66.2 ± 5.2, and 43.3 ± 2.7 nm, respectively. Bala et al also reported similar results with the addition of GO nanosheets in the polyphenylene‐ether‐ether‐sulfone membranes and concluded that the roughness parameters also increased 48 . The films of PCL/fGO and PCL/fGO/TiO 2 displayed a relatively smooth surface morphology compared with pure PCL/GO and PCL/GO/TiO 2 films.…”

“…Bala et al also reported similar results with the addition of GO nanosheets in the polyphenylene-ether-ether-sulfone membranes and concluded that the roughness parameters also increased. 48 The films of PCL/fGO and PCL/fGO/TiO 2 displayed a relatively smooth surface morphology compared with pure PCL/GO and PCL/GO/TiO 2 films. Although it was observed that Ra values increased with the addition of GO, Ra decreased with the addition of fGO and showed a good GO dispersion in the PCL matrix.…”

Recent Advances on the Fabrication of Antifouling Phase-Inversion Membranes by Physical Blending Modification Method

“…Note also that the presence of hydroxyl groups of GO impacts the kinetic of mass transfers during membrane formation, hence affecting the membrane structure. More or larger macrovoids are likely to be observed if membranes are formed by wet-immersion, as pointed out by Bala et al [ 345 ] or Mohsenpour et al [ 304 ].…”

“…Carbon allotropes including graphene oxide (GO) and reduced graphene oxide (rGO), as well as other carbon materials such as multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) or carboxylated nanodiamonds (CNDs), have been used in the past decade to develop membranes by blending modification for water treatment [ 288 , 302 , 304 , 305 , 306 , 307 , 308 , 344 , 345 , 346 , 347 ].…”

Facile co-sintering process to fabricate sustainable antifouling silver nanoparticles (AgNPs)-enhanced tight ceramic ultrafiltration membranes for protein separation

“…Therefore, the development of a high-performance ceramic membrane material with a satisfactory protein antifouling performance is essential. In order to alleviate the membrane fouling, various approaches have been employed to modify the membrane surface charge [6], hydrophilicity-hydrophobicity performance [7], surface roughness [8,9], inhomogeneous pore size distribution [10], etc. Nanoparticles (NPs)-enhanced membranes with various functionalities have been proposed as high-performance antifouling membranes to separate and purify waste water [11,12].…”