Highly efficient removal of phenol from aqueous solutions using graphene oxide/Al2O3 composite membrane

Abstract

To achieve superior separation performance in the phenol aqueous solutions treatment, a novel graphene oxide/Al2O3 composite membrane was prepared by a spin coating process. The microstructure measurement shows that the composite membrane has a multilayer structure and graphene oxide has been tightly coated on the surface of the Al2O3 membrane interlayer homogeneously. During the treatment of phenol aqueous solutions, the permeation flux and phenol rejection of the composite membrane were investigated. The results show the permeation flux of the membrane is about 1.153 L m−2 h−1 bar−1 and the phenol rejection of the membrane increases to 99.9% when the phenol concentration is 0.01 g L−1. The high phenol rejection of the composite membrane is mainly attributed to the physical sieving, the solution–diffusion effect and the hydrophobic nature of graphene oxide. All these results indicate the GO/Al2O3 composite membrane is a suitable material for the removal of phenol from aqueous solutions in environmental pollution management.