Anti-fouling graphene oxide membranes intercalated with Co-anchored graphitic carbon nitride nanosheet for enhanced water purification

Abstract

Membrane separation technology has been widely used in wastewater recycling. Graphene oxide (GO) membranes have been widely developed, but membrane fouling is still a serious challenge. Here, GO-based membranes intercalated with Co-anchored graphitic carbon nitride nanosheet (Co@CNN) were prepared by a vacuum-filtrated assembly strategy. The resulting GO/Co@CNN membrane with an appropriate interlayer d-spacing (0.81 nm) and loading yield (0.30 ± 0.03 mg/cm2) can effectively separate methyl blue (MB) with a flux of 66.9 ± 2.7 L m-2h−1 under 1 bar, although the membrane has been fouled due to the adsorption of MB on the sample. Co@CNN can activate potassium peroxymonosulfat (PMS) to generate multiple active free radicals for the oxidation of MB via an advanced oxidation process (AOP). Therefore, the fouled membrane renews and can be employed to deal with wastewater repeatedly.