High performance polyamide crosslinked graphene oxide/MPNs nanofiltration membrane for wastewater purification

Abstract

Nanofiltration membranes prepared via polyamide crosslinked Graphene oxide (GO) sheets have been considered to be promisingly applied in water purification. Unfortunately, the water flux of polyamide crosslinked GO-based membranes is strongly restricted due to the small interlamellar spacing of GO sheets. To solve this problem, the microporous polymer networks (MPNs) and GO sheets were introduced into the polyamide layer to reach a synergistic effect in this work. Specifically, the interlamellar interaction of GO sheets was manipulated via intercalating MPNs nanoparticles. ThesynergisticeffectofGOandMPNswassignificantlybeneficialfor the improvementofwaterflux. A delicate wrinkled membrane surface was formed via regulating the content of MPNs nanoparticles, which could provide larger area in contact with water molecules, further improved the water flux. The prepared membrane with 1 g/m2 MPNs and 41.8 mg/m2 GO sheets gave an evidently increased water flux from 6.6 L m−2h−1 bar−1 to 25.1 L m−2h−1 bar−1 compared with the GO-based membrane without MPNs. Additionally, a high Na2SO4 retention of 94% and considerable efficiency in anti-fouling property were also observed for the prepared membranes.