(376ba) Preparation and Characterization of Graphene Oxide-Based Nanofiltration Membranes for Water Desalination

To address the pressing global issue of clean water scarcity, water desalination and purification technologies are being used widely to turn seawater to drinkable water, yet we face challenges with the design of sustainable, energy-efficient technologies. Membrane-based separation methods for desalination can provide adequate clean water resources. Desalination technologies used today have high energy consumption and capital costs. Preparation of novel membranes which can reduce the energy consumption together with high water permeability and high salt rejection capacity is highly demanding. Graphene-oxide (GO) based nanofiltration membranes have high stability and high ion rejection for seawater desalination to surpass the present upper bounds for better membrane performance. Recently, GO materials have emerged as potential candidates with excellent desalination characteristics. In this research, graphene oxide is used to fabricate membranes for desalination. Subsequently, the nematic liquid crystalline phases of GO are produced and then exposed to shear-alignment using a film applicator to form large-area GO membranes and membrane modules are fabricated. These modules are characterized using a variety of tests such as AFM, SEM, UV-VIS, FTIR, Raman Spectroscopy, and water permeability and bacterial adhesion tests are also carried out to test the efficiency of the membranes.