Graphene oxide/double‐layer hydroxide hybrids for efficient crude oil-water separation

Abstract

Graphene oxide (GO) is considered as a new type of self‐assembly membrane material. However, it suffering from a low steady state filtration flux as well as unstable performance, resulting in restriction of its practical applications. For this reason, this study aimed to incorporate GO into layered double hydroxides (LDHs), with double‐layer hydrophilic transport channels and positively charged surface at different weight ratio (i.e. 5:1, 3:1, 1:1, 1:3, and 1:5) through electrostatic self‐assembly method. The developed GO-Mg/Al/Zn-LDH was then coated on the stainless-steel mesh combined with chitosan (CS) to obtain a stable and high‐flux hydrophilic and underwater superoleophobic membrane. The morphology of layer by layer (LBL) hybrid mesh were fully characterized by XRD, EDS, and SEM techniques, and examined for removal of heavy crude oil from water surfaces which showed a higher than 99.5% separation efficiency (ɳ%) and water flux of ∼160222 ± 102 Lm2h−1 under gravity-driven force. Moreover, the exceptional mechanical/chemical stability effective separation, high water flux, reusability, and excellent superhydrophilicity, LBL hybrid mesh can be considered as a promising renewable membrane for oily water remediation.