(554e) Thin Film Nanocomposite (TFN) Nanofiltration (NF) Membranes Containing Graphene Oxide (GO) Nanoparticles with Enhanced Water Selectivity and Anti-Fouling Properties

Water scarcity is a threat to billions of people worldwide and is expected to become worse due to the climate change and the rise of the world population. Desalination technologies are expected to play a significant role in alleviating the aforementioned problem, but they suffer from high energy consumption. In order to minimize the energy consumption of the desalination sector new membrane based technologies emerge as an alternative to traditional desalination technologies.

An ultrafiltration porous substrate was synthesized from a polysulfone containing pyridine units with the use of non-solvent induced phase separation (NIPS). That substrate was used to fabricate nanofiltration (TNF) membranes utilizing the surfactant-assembly regulated interfacial polymerization (SARIP) between piperazine (PIP) and trimesoyl chloride (TMC). The Graphene Oxide (GO) and the functionalized with an ionic liquid (IL) GO nanoparticles (GO-IL) were dispersed into the PIP solution and thus incorporated into the selective layer of the TFN membranes. The properties of the fabricated TFN membranes were investigated via FT-IR, XPS, water contact angle, AFM and SEM, while the performance was evaluated by conducting filtration experiments at 7 bar pressure with the use of dead – end stirred cell.

The combination of SARIP along with the incorporation of GO and GO-IL greatly increased the crosslinking degree of the polyamide, the hydrophilicity and the roughness of the selective layer. The TFN membrane containing the pristine GO exhibited very high salt rejections (98.8% Na₂SO₄, 99.5% MgSO₄, and 47.0% NaCl) with an adequate water permeability (4.2 L m^-2 h^-1 bar^-1), while exhibiting higher fouling resistance against bovine serum albumin (BSA).

The combination of SARIP and GO nanoparticles can lead to NF membranes with very high water selectivity and enhanced anti-fouling properties.

Acknowledgements

This research is supported by ASPIRE, the technology program management pillar of Abu Dhabi’s Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC), via the ASPIRE “AARE (ASPIRE Awards for Research Excellence)” and through grant no. AARE20-246 to Ioannis Zuburtikudis of Abu Dhabi University.