Abstract
Graphene oxide (GO)-filled poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) or polyacrylonitrile (PAN) microfiltration tubes were fabricated using decompression filtration. The microstructures of the GO nanosheets and GO-filled PVDF tubes were determined using X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. The separation of two essences, namely citral and citronellol, and the adsorption properties of two types of heavy metal ions, namely CrO 4 2- and Cu 2+ , in GO-filled PVDF tubes were investigated. The results show that large numbers of GO microspheres of diameter 0.14-0.5 μm were trapped in the micropores of the PVDF or PAN microfiltration tube walls, reducing the size of and spaces in the micropores. The filled GO microspheres contain many functional oxygen-containing groups, so they can play important roles in the separation of organic molecules of different sizes and the adsorption of heavy metal ions. It was shown that on passing through the GO-filled PVDF or PAN tubes for 1 h, the citral and citronellol concentrations decreased significantly, from 15.0 vol% to 0.6 vol% and from 11.0 vol% to 2.3 vol%, respectively. The Cu2+ and CrO 4 2- concentrations also showed different decreases; the Cu2+ concentration decreased from 20 to 0.3 μg/mL and the CrO 4 2- concentration decreased from 20 to 10.7 μg/mL, showing that Cu 2+ can be adsorbed much more completely within the GO microspheres.
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