Chemically Cross-Linked Graphene Oxide as a Selective Layer on Electrospun Polyvinyl Alcohol Nanofiber Membrane for Nanofiltration Application
Myoung Jun Park,
Grace M. Nisola,
Dong Han Seo,
Chen Wang,
Sherub Phuntsho,
Youngwoo Choo,
Wook-Jin Chung,
Ho Kyong Shon
Affiliations
Myoung Jun Park
Centre for Technology in Water and Wastewater (CTWW), School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology Sydney (UTS), P.O. Box 123, 15 Broadway, NSW 2007, Australia
Grace M. Nisola
Environmental Waste Recycle Institute (EWRI), Department of Energy Science and Technology (DEST), Myongji University, Myongji-ro 116, Cheoin-gu, Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do 17058, Korea
Dong Han Seo
Centre for Technology in Water and Wastewater (CTWW), School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology Sydney (UTS), P.O. Box 123, 15 Broadway, NSW 2007, Australia
Chen Wang
Centre for Technology in Water and Wastewater (CTWW), School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology Sydney (UTS), P.O. Box 123, 15 Broadway, NSW 2007, Australia
Sherub Phuntsho
Centre for Technology in Water and Wastewater (CTWW), School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology Sydney (UTS), P.O. Box 123, 15 Broadway, NSW 2007, Australia
Youngwoo Choo
Centre for Technology in Water and Wastewater (CTWW), School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology Sydney (UTS), P.O. Box 123, 15 Broadway, NSW 2007, Australia
Wook-Jin Chung
Environmental Waste Recycle Institute (EWRI), Department of Energy Science and Technology (DEST), Myongji University, Myongji-ro 116, Cheoin-gu, Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do 17058, Korea
Ho Kyong Shon
Centre for Technology in Water and Wastewater (CTWW), School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology Sydney (UTS), P.O. Box 123, 15 Broadway, NSW 2007, Australia
Graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets were utilized as a selective layer on a highly porous polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) nanofiber support via a pressure-assisted self-assembly technique to synthesize composite nanofiltration membranes. The GO layer was rendered stable by cross-linking the nanosheets (GO-to-GO) and by linking them onto the support surface (GO-to-PVA) using glutaraldehyde (GA). The amounts of GO and GA deposited on the PVA substrate were varied to determine the optimum nanofiltration membrane both in terms of water flux and salt rejection performances. The successful GA cross-linking of GO interlayers and GO-PVA via acetalization was confirmed by FTIR and XPS analyses, which corroborated with other characterization results from contact angle and zeta potential measurements. Morphologies of the most effective membrane (CGOPVA-50) featured a defect-free GA cross-linked GO layer with a thickness of ~67 nm. The best solute rejections of the CGOPVA-50 membrane were 91.01% for Na2SO4 (20 mM), 98.12% for Eosin Y (10 mg/L), 76.92% for Methylene blue (10 mg/L), and 49.62% for NaCl (20 mM). These findings may provide one of the promising approaches in synthesizing mechanically stable GO-based thin-film composite membranes that are effective for solute separation via nanofiltration.
