Abstract
The application of polymer inclusion membranes (PIMs) for the aquatic remediation of several heavy metals, dyes, and nutrients has been extensively studied. However, its application in treating organic compounds such as Ibuprofen, an emerging pharmaceutical contaminant that poses potential environmental problems, has not been explored satisfactorily. Therefore, graphene oxide (GO) doped PIMs were fabricated, characterized, and applied to extract aqueous Ibuprofen at varied pH conditions. The doped PIMs were synthesized using a low concentration of Aliquat 336 as carrier and 0, 0.15, 0.45, and 0.75% GO as nanoparticles in polyvinyl chloride (PVC) base polymer without adding any plasticizer. The synthesized PIM was characterized by SEM, FTIR, physical, and chemical stability. The GO doped PIM was well plasticized and had an optimal Ibuprofen extraction efficiency of about 84% at pH of 10 and 0.75% GO concentration. Furthermore, the GO doped PIM’s chemical stability indicates better stability in acidic solution than in the alkaline solution. This study demonstrates that the graphene oxide-doped PIM significantly enhanced the extraction of Ibuprofen at a low concentration. However, further research is required to improve its stability and efficiency for the remediation of the ubiquitous Ibuprofen in the aquatic environment.
Highlights
A composite material consists of two or more components designated as matrix and filler
Graphene has good water channel properties, large surface area, remarkable tensile strength (~1 Tpa), the exceptional electrical conductivity of ~106 s cm−1 at ordinary temperature, high thermal conductivity of ~5000 W m K−1, enhanced active sites, large delocalized π-electron systems, and chemical stability coupled with an exclusive tunable size structure
The pure polyvinyl chloride (PVC) in the pristine (PIM GOO), control polymer inclusion membranes (PIMs) (GO), and graphene oxide doped PIMs (G1-G3) is detected at the spectrum bands of 684, 685, and 686 cm−1, which is attributable to the bending modes of the C−H bonds, while the bands at 832, 1250, and
Summary
A composite material consists of two or more components designated as matrix and filler. Several authors [2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10] have reported graphene and its derivatives as suitable fillers to remove several organic and inorganic wastewater contaminants with remarkable efficiencies [11,12]. The advent of new and more sensitive analysis methods has made it possible to detect very low concentrations of various potentially dangerous contaminants in the aquatic systems up to ng/L detection level. This study evaluates the stability and potential of functionalized polymer inclusion membrane to remove low concentration Ibuprofen, which prolonged accumulation has been recognized as a pharmaceutical’s endocrine disruptors in the aquatic system [35,36,37,38]
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