Pure Graphene Oxide Membrane Research Articles

Effect of Addition Amount of Ethylenediamine on Interlayer Nanochannels and the Separation Performance of Graphene Oxide Membranes

In recent years, graphene oxide (GO)-based two-dimensional (2D) laminar membranes have attracted considerable attention because of their unique well-defined nanochannels and deliver a wide range of molecular separation properties and fundamentals. However, the practical application of 2D GO layered membranes suffers from instability in aqueous solutions as the interlayer d-spacing of GO membranes is prone to expansion caused by the hydration effect. In this study, the effects of the ethylenediamine (EDA) addition amount on the structure, crosslinking mechanism and separation performance of GO membranes were investigated systematically, and membrane performance was evaluated using water permeability and dye/salt rejection tests. The experimental results show that the amine groups of EDA chemically bond with the hydroxyl functional group (O=C–OH) of GO after intercalation, as evident from Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). By further controlling the amount of the intercalated EDA, the as-prepared GO composite membranes show nanoscale-tuned d-spacing promising for downstream applications. In the demonstrated dye/salt nanofiltration scenario, the EDA intercalated and crosslinked GO membrane has enhanced permeability by over five times and a better dye rejection rate of over 96% compared with pure GO membranes. These findings highlight a facile strategy for controlling nanochannels by tuning the amounts of reactive intercalants.

Hydrophilic and antimicrobial properties of hydroxypropyl trimethyl ammonium chloride chitosan/graphene oxide membrane for dye rejection

Graphene oxide (GO) -based membranes have attracted attention in dye wastewater treatment in recent years. However, water permeance and methyl orange (MO) rejection need improvement. In this work, a simple method was used to incorporate hydroxypropyl trimethyl ammonium chloride chitosan (HTCC) to enhance the charge of the membrane. An optimized HTCC-GO composite membrane (HGM membrane) containing a 2: 1 ratio of HTCC to GO membrane significantly improved MO rejection (96.94 %), and achieved high rejection of the other three dye molecules studied in this work (>93 %), and also realized a two-fold higher water permeance (28.09 L m−2 h−1 bar−1) compared to a pure GO membrane. Furthermore, the hydrophilic and antimicrobial properties of HGM membranes are enhanced as a result of quaternary ammonium groups in HTCC. Moreover, the acid-base stability of HGM membranes was also improved in comparison to the original GO membrane. This work provides a reference for the modification of GO-based membranes and their application in the direction of practical treatment of dye wastewater.

Graphene oxide nanofiltration membrane for efficient dye separation by β-FeOOH intercalation and dopamine surface modification

Graphene oxide (GO) membranes have been extensively studied for the separation and purification of dye wastewater. Improving the stability, permeability and self-cleaning ability of these materials is urgently needed for the purification of complex dye wastewater. In this study, we developed a simple and effective method to insert ternary β-iron hydroxide (β-FeOOH) between GO nanosheets and modify the membrane surface with dopamine hydrochloride (PDA) to solve this problem. The pure water flux of the composite membrane was 9 times higher than that of the pure GO membrane (92.82 L m−2h−1), and the rejection of dye molecules larger than 400 Da was consistently greater than 99 %. The PDA/GO-β-FeOOH2 composite membrane was operated for 50 h (with xenon lamp irradiation to clean the membrane surface) with a flux of 34.98 L m−2h−1 and a rejection rate consistently higher than 98.5 %.

Hybrid graphene oxide-graphene membrane for efficient water desalination: Insights from molecular dynamics simulation

In the field of reverse osmosis (RO) desalination, layer-by-layer assembled graphene oxide (GO) membranes have emerged as a promising innovation. However, the swelling of these membranes remains a critical barrier that affects their performance and long-term stability. To address this challenge, our study investigates the potential of hybrid GO and graphene (G) membranes to reduce swelling and increase overall performance through molecular dynamics simulations. Our findings reveal that the G/GO/G/GO hybrid membrane outperforms others, demonstrating a water permeation rate of 69.2 L/cm2/day/Mpa, exceeding alternatives, and boasting 100 % ion rejection efficiency, with a channel inter-layer distance of 8.77 Å. Moreover, the combination of hydrophobic G sheets and hydrophilic GO sheets reduces swelling compared to pure GO membranes. Furthermore, the analysis of water velocity within the hybrid GO/G membrane reveals that the velocity profile is no longer symmetrical, unlike in the pure G and GO membranes, and the maximum velocity occurs in close proximity to the hydrophobic sheet. Additionally, increasing the mass of G sheets in the hybrid GO/G membrane, enhances water flow, while a higher GO sheet ratio reduces permeation. Our study reveals the distinct characteristics of pure GO and hybrid GO/G membranes and their significant impact on water desalination technology.

Stabilizing graphene oxide with complementary nanosheets for robust membranes with high flux

Laminar assembles of graphene oxide (GO) are receiving tremendous attention for their interesting nanofluidic behaviors, but suffer from structural instability and frustrated mass transfer. Herein, we stabilize GO assembles by “complementary nanosheets”, and thus obtain highly robust and permeable membranes. Self-exfoliated nanosheets of ionic covalent organic frameworks (iCONs) are intercalated into GO nanosheets. GO and iCONs are physicochemically complementary as they carry opposite charges and hydrogen bonds acceptors and donors, respectively. Upon mixing, they form laminar assembles locked by electrostatic attraction and hydrogen bonds, suppressing swelling in water. Moreover, simulation and experimental results reveal that iCONs expands the interlayer distance and provides additional mass-transport paths. Consequently, the GO/iCONs membranes exhibit ultra-high water permeance up to 11-fold larger than that of pure GO membranes. This work provides a controllable route to stabilize GO assembles, and develops new membranes using complementary two-dimensional structures as building blocks.

Self-healing properties of GO nanofiltration membranes based on dialdehyde cellulose nanocrystals and ethylenediamine facilitate efficient separation of dyes

Graphene oxide (GO) membranes can purify wastewater due to their unique two-dimensional channels, but they are susceptible to mechanical damage during use, which reduces membrane performance. In this paper, EGO nanosheets were prepared by grafting ethylenediamine (EDA) small molecules onto GO at high temperatures and introducing aldehyde groups on the molecular chain of double aldehyde cellulose nanocrystals (DACNC), which reacted with reactive amino groups on the surface of the EGO nanosheets via a Schiff base reaction to create interlayer nanochannels in the composite membrane. The best performing EGO-DACNC24 composite membranes were prepared by adding different aldehyde substitution degrees and different amounts of DACNC to mediate the crosslinked interlayer nanochannels and network structure of the composite membranes. The water flux is more than 10 times that of pure GO membrane, and the rejection rate of dye molecules larger than 400 Da is always more than 99%. Excellent separation results are achieved after 120 h of operation due to the structural stability of the membrane resulting from chemical cross-linking. Damaged in practical applications, small amounts of added DACNC can achieve self-healing through the synergistic effect of dynamic Schiff base and hydrogen bonding interactions.

Enhancing stability and ionic sieving efficiencies of GO membranes via copper ion crosslinking and tannic acid intercalation

Graphene oxide (GO) membranes have exhibited excellent molecular sieving properties in several areas, such as water treatment and gas separation, but unsatisfactory permeability and/or selectivity for ionic separation. Meanwhile, the instability of pure GO membranes in acidic solution has significantly impeded the ionic sieving applications. In this study, a kind of GO composite membranes (GO-Cu-TAa) with exceptional aqueous stability and superior ionic sieving properties are successfully prepared by employing a unique natural deposition strategy to introduce copper ions and tannic acid (TA). Based on the synergistic effect of the two cross-linking agents of copper ion and TA, the structural stability and ionic sieving performance of GO-Cu-TAa membranes are obviously enhanced. The resultant membrane with 20% TA loading displays excellent ionic sieving performance in a mixed solution containing K+, Mg2+ and Cr3+ three metal cations, and the selectivities of K+/Mg2+ and K+/Cr3+ are 46.43 and 185.32, respectively. Especially, the permeation rate of K+ ion reaches up to 0.75 mol m-2 h-1. Meanwhile, the ionic sieving property of such GO membranes possesses outstanding reusability and long-term stability. Such a membrane can also effectively separate mono-/multivalent metal cations from the mixed solution contained of the nine metal cations. The selectivities of monovalent/divalent metal cations (such as K+/Pb2+, K+/Ca2+, K+/Mg2+) are as high as 7.69–51.49, and those of monovalent/trivalent metal cations (such as K+/Fe3+, K+/Cr3+, K+/Al3+) are as high as 247.62–346.67. These results indicate that the GO-Cu-TAa membranes fabricated by the method of natural deposition strategy are expected to be used in the practical applications of lithium extraction from Salt Lake and wastewater purification, etc.

R-HGO/MXene composite membrane with enhanced permeability and rejection performance for water treatment

Pure graphene oxide (GO) membranes have a tendency to swell in water and have a relatively low flux, making them impractical for water treatment applications. Herein, a novel two-dimensional (2D) composite membrane based on reduced-holey GO (r-HGO) and MXene materials was developed. As a consequence of synergistic effects arising from its unique heterogeneous structure, the r-HGO/MXene composite membrane exhibited an exemplary performance for water treatment, in terms of its permeability and pollutant rejection, and high physical stability. The preparation conditions, especially the reduction degree of GO and the proportions of r-HGO and MXene, determine the properties and performance of the composite membrane. The water flux of the r-HGO/MXene composite membrane with a r-HGO/MXene mass ratio of 1/1 achieved 121.0 L m−2 h−1·bar−1, which was 23 times higher than that of pure GO membrane (∼5.2 L m−2 h−1·bar−1). The removal rates of Coomassie brilliant blue, Methyl blue, Crystal violet, Rhodamine B, Methylene blue, were all above 90 %. Furthermore, the r-HGO/MXene composite membrane was found to be physically stable for more than a week in an aqueous environment. The results of this work show that the r-HGO/MXene composite membrane has great potential as a separation method in water treatment by overcoming some of the important limitations of other current 2D materials.

Construction of robust one-dimensional nanowire-regulated graphene oxide membranes for efficient dye/salt separation

Loose nanofiltration (NF) for graphene oxide (GO) membranes is an emerging efficient strategy for separating dye/salt mixtures in textile wastewater to realize sustainable resource recovery. This study proposes a novel approach for constructing a laminated GO membrane with interlayer water-transporting nanochannels by intercalating tannic acid nanowires (TANs). The interlayer spacing of the GO membrane can be expanded by one-dimensional TANs while cross-linking between hydrophilic TANs and GO nanosheets enhance the mechanical stability of this sheet-wire structure and interlayer channels. The membrane is able to achieve excellent water permeability without sacrificing selectivity due to the dual driving force resulting from the ultrafast water transport ability of primitive graphene planes and interlayer hydrophilic nanowires. The modified GO membrane exhibits a high water permeability of 52.1 L m−2 h−1 bar−1, which is twice that of the pure GO membrane and excellent selectivity of 85.5 to the methyl blue/NaCl mixed solution. Overall, this work provides a feasible strategy for constructing a mixed-dimensional GO-based membrane with a robust structure and multi-pathways to achieve excellent perm-selectivity for dye/salt separation.

New design of graphene oxide on macroporous nylon assisted polyvinyl alcohol with Zn (II) cross-linker for pervaporation desalination

Thin film composite membranes of macroporous nylon substrates, graphene oxide (GO) sheets, and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) with Zn2+ (c) ions as cross-linkers have been successfully prepared. This study aims to obtain the membrane composition with the highest desalination efficiency and the best membrane permeability and stability. Membrane performance in desalination applications was evaluated by measurement of water flux and salt rejection. GO was successfully synthesized using a modified Hummers method, and the membrane was prepared by vacuum filtration with various volumes of PVAy ( y = 1 mL, 5 mL, and 10 mL). c-GO-PVA membranes were characterized by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), water contact angle, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The experimental results show that adding a cross-linker increases the membrane’s stability, and adding PVA increases the hydrophilicity. The desalination test showed that pure GO membrane had high flux but the lowest salt rejection. The c-GO-PVA5 nylon membrane has a high water flux of 20.68 kg m−2 h−1 and high salt rejection (close to 100.0%), so it is recommended as a pervaporation membrane.

Advanced hybrid nanosheet membranes with stable nanochannels for ultrafast molecular separation

Lamellar graphene oxide (GO) membranes have gained substantial interest for molecular separation processes. However, GO membranes have shown inefficient separation performance levels due to their possession of sufficient functional groups that lead to swelling under applied hydraulic pressure. Herein, we demonstrate a highly stable and ultrafast filtrable graphene oxide-boron nitride (GOBN) hybrid membrane by incorporating boron nitride (BN) nanosheets into a GO membrane to restrict swelling and provide efficient hydraulic pressure separation characteristics. This new heterostructure retains the GOBN membrane microstructure and provides more nanochannels around the incorporation sites due to the small size of BN nanosheets; this phenomenon increases the permeance to 1310 Lm−2h−1bar−1, which is nearly six times higher than that of the pure GO membrane, with a high rejection reaching 99.2% for aqueous organic dyes. More importantly, the GOBN hybrid membrane shows an impressive permeance and dye molecule rejection performance characteristic across a range of organic solvents, such as methanol, ethanol, and isopropyl alcohol; the performance characteristics are better than those for the GO membrane. Our GOBN membrane with a stable microstructure opens opportunities for developing a high-performance multiple solvent nanofiltration membrane that surpasses the permeability-selectivity trade-off.

Double cross-linked MoS2 intercalation GO membrane: Towards high stability and high permeability

Graphene oxide (GO)-based membrane has shown great potential in water purification due to its unique physicochemical properties and high permeability. However, it is a challenge to pursue highly permeable GO membranes without compromising stability. Here we employed sodium alginate (SA) together with Ca2+ as cross-linkers to double crosslink GO membrane to obtain stable GS membrane. Further, MoS2 nanosheets were inserted between GO nanosheets to obtain GSM membrane with high permeability. The double cross-linked MoS2 intercalation GO membrane, GSM-1:4, showed high removal of multiple dyes (>99%) and enhanced pure water permeance (112.5 L m−2 h−1 bar−1, 1.9 times and 5.8 times of the pure GO membrane and the double cross-linked GS-0.5 membrane, respectively). Meanwhile, the GSM-1:4 membrane demonstrated excellent stability in water and even in acid and alkali solutions. Our work provides new insights into the design of stable and highly efficient GO-based membranes with a two-dimensional layered structure for water treatment.

Graphene oxide assisted assembly of superhydrophilic MOF-based membrane with 2D/3D hybrid nanochannels for enhanced water purification

Assembling metal–organic framework (MOF) microcrystals into macroscopic membrane structure is of vital importance for the development of high-performance MOF-based membranes. However, most MOFs possess poor solution processibility due to their low colloidal and chemical stability. Herein, we report a facile approach that uses graphene oxide (GO) as two-dimensional (2D) nano-surfactant to assist the dispersion and assembly of superhydrophilic amino acid-based Zr-MOF microcrystals, MIP-202(Zr), into a bulge-structured membrane. The incorporation of superhydrophilic MIP-202(Zr) with GO laminates endowed the resultant membrane with desired two-dimensional/three-dimensional (2D/3D) hybrid nanochannels and stronger hydrophilicity. Benefiting from these features, the obtained GO/MIP-202(Zr) membrane exhibited superior water permeance than pure GO membrane and many other GO/MOF composite membranes. The strengthened permeation performance could also be well-maintained with satisfied rejection performances when utilized for dye molecule rejection. The dye molecule rejection process was closely associated with their size, charge and configuration. Moreover, the GO/MIP-202(Zr) membrane showed improved antifouling performance compared with pure GO membrane, demonstrating its superiority in the practical separation process. Our results provide essential reference values for the assembly of MOF microcrystals into macroscopic membrane structures and their application in water treatment.

Functionalized GO Membranes for Efficient Separation of Acid Gases from Natural Gas: A Computational Mechanistic Understanding.

Membrane separation technology is applied in natural gas processing, while a high-performance membrane is highly in demand. This paper considers the bright future of functionalized graphene oxide (GO) membranes in acid gas removal from natural gas. By molecular simulations, the adsorption and diffusion behaviors of several unary gases (N2, CH4, CO2, H2S, and SO2) are explored in the 1,4-phenylenediamine-2-sulfonate (PDASA)-doped GO channels. Molecular insights show that the multilayer adsorption of acid gases evaluates well by the Redlich-Peterson model. A tiny amount of PDASA promotes the solubility coefficient of CO2 and H2S, respectively, up to 4.5 and 5.3 mmol·g-1·kPa-1, nearly 2.5 times higher than those of a pure GO membrane, which is due to the improved binding affinity, great isosteric heat, and hydrogen bonds, while N2 and CH4 only show single-layer adsorption with solubility coefficients lower than 0.002 mmol·g-1·kPa-1, and their weak adsorption is insusceptible to PDASA. Although acid gas diffusivity in GO channels is inhibited below 20 × 10-6 cm2·s-1 by PDASA, the solubility coefficient of acid gases is certainly high enough to ensure their separation efficiency. As a result, the permeabilities (P) of acid gases and their selectivities (α) over CH4 are simultaneously improved (PCO2 = 7265.5 Barrer, αCO2/CH4 = 95.7; P(H2S+CO2) = 42075.1 Barrer, αH2S/CH4 = 243.8), which outperforms most of the ever-reported membranes. This theoretical study gives a mechanistic understanding of acid gas separation and provides a unique design strategy to develop high-performance GO membranes toward efficient natural gas processing.

PVA-integrated graphene oxide-attapulgite composite membrane for efficient removal of heavy metal contaminants.

Graphene oxide (GO) is an excellent membrane-forming material with unique two-dimensional transport channels and excellent adsorption properties for heavy metal contaminants. However, swelling under cross-flow conditions and long-term water immersion leads to poor separation performances. To improve the stability of GO membrane materials, we propose a PVA-integrated graphene oxide/attapulgite membrane (GOAP) with a 3D microstructural arrangement of "brick-mortar-brick." The addition of PVA as mortar reinforces the strength of the structures via induced hydrogen bonding within the 3D water transport network. Furthermore, the Al2O3 ceramic substrate pre-treated with (3-aminopropyl) triethoxysilane (APTES) provided high mechanical stability to the composite membrane, extending the membrane's stability beyond a month of immersion without swelling or shedding. The PVA-integrated GO/ATP composite membrane maintained a rejection rate of 99% for Cu2+ solution (100mg/L) in a 26-h continuous with nearly 100% rejection for various metals ions such as Cu2+, Ni2+, Pb2+, and Cd2+. The membrane exhibited a water flux of 20.7 L·m-2·h-1, which was 15.9-fold high than the pure GO membrane (GOM). The high water flux and heavy metal filtration rate with superior stability proved the practical suitability of the composite film for removing heavy metal ions.

Photocatalytic self-cleaning graphene oxide membrane coupled with carbon nitride and Ti3C2-Mxene for enhanced wastewater purification

In this study, an original photocatalytic self-cleaning composite membrane with the fabrication of graphene oxide (GO), polyacrylic acid (PAA), and g-C3N4 (CN)/amorphous Ti-peroxo complexes (CATC) was prepared on the commercial cellulose acetate membrane (CAM) through the vacuum filtration approach to overcome the common membrane fouling issues. The material properties of composites or membranes were characterized. Here, the permeability and separation performance of membranes were optimized by CATC and PAA dosages. A series of membrane separation tests revealed that the produced membrane had better permeability and dye removal capabilities. A pure water flux (PWF) of the GO/PAA/CATC (GPC) membrane was 30.95 L·m−2·h−1, corresponding to 3.43 times in comparison to that of the pure GO membrane. The removal efficiencies for the GPC membrane towards methylene blue (MB), rhodamine b (RhB), Cu(NO3)2, and congo red (CR) were over 99% due to the hydrogen bond, π-π, electrostatic, and physical sieving effects. Also, the GPC membrane demonstrated a favorable separation performance towards oil/water emulsion (over 98%). In addition, the GPC membrane maintained stable rejections towards MB, CR, RhB, and Cu(NO3)2 at pH 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11 environments. Meanwhile, the self-cleaning GPC membrane was endowed with satisfactory reusability after 6 cycles because of the photocatalytic effect at the roles of h+, O2−, and OH free radicals. Hence, it can be expected that the GPC membrane synthesized in this study poses a favorable utilization capability in wastewater treatment.

Highly stable membrane comprising MOF nanosheets and graphene oxide for ultra-permeable nanofiltration

The separation application of two-dimensional (2D) material membrane, e.g., graphene oxide (GO) membrane, has long been limited by the low stability and uncontrollable permeability originated from their severe swelling in water and uneven interlayer spacing caused by the loose and imperfect stacking of GO laminates. Herein, we conceive a composite membrane by integrating a highly porous 2D Al-MOF nanosheets into a graphene oxide membrane that simultaneously improves membrane stability and solvent permeability. On one hand, strong interactions, including Al–O coordination and π−π stacking between Al-MOF and GO nanosheets help tightening the GO stacking, which improves the structural stability of the composite membrane. On the other hand, the high porosity of Al-MOF greatly enhances the mass transfer efficiency by affording more pathways in the membrane. When used for nanofiltration, the GO@Al-MOF composite membrane exhibits 99.9% rejection of Congo red and ultrahigh water permeance of 51.6 L m−2 h−1 bar−1, which is more than 17-fold higher than that of the pure GO membrane. This high separation performance can be maintained for up to 140 h, suggesting the superior chemical and structural stability of the composite membrane. This work provides a useful co-stacking strategy to construct 2D material membranes with high chemical and structural stability as well as outstanding selectivity and permeability.

Improving stability and separation performance of graphene oxide/graphene nanofiltration membranes by adjusting the laminated regularity of stacking-sheets

The laminated graphene oxide (GO) membranes are promising alternatives in the field of nanofiltration due to their unique stacked interlayer structure and controllable molecular transport channels. However, it is still challenging to obtain satisfactory physical stability and separation performance to meet its practical application. In this study, a novel GO/Gr (graphene) nanofiltration membrane with high stability was engineered by post-hot-pressure treatment, following forward pressure filtration. The impact of GO/Gr loading ratio of the composites nanofiltration membranes for the permeability, selectivity, hydrophilicity and physical stability was investigated. The GO/Gr nanofiltration membranes exhibited high stability and separation performance because of the enhanced regularity and smoothness of the overall stacking layers. It was demonstrated that the satisfactory permeability (12.8–20 L·m−2·h−1) of GO/Gr nanofiltration membranes could be achieved. Compared with the pure GO membranes, GO/Gr-0.5 membranes exhibited a higher Na2SO4, NaCl, MgCl2, and MgSO4 rejection rate of approximately 78.3%, 51.2%, 34.5% and 32.6%, respectively. Meanwhile, the rejection rate (99.5%, 99.9%, 97.3% and 98.6%) of composite membranes for Methylene blue, Congo red, Rhodamine B and Methyl orange could be achieved. This facile way reveals the potential of stacked GO/Gr membranes in developing GO-based nanofiltration membranes.

Ultrafast and Selective Nanofiltration Enabled by Graphene Oxide Membranes with Unzipped Carbon Nanotube Networks.

Carbon nanomaterials have proven their wide applicability in molecular separation and water purification techniques. Here, an unzipped carbon nanotubes (CNT) embedded graphene oxide (GO) membrane (uCNTm) is reported. The multiwalled CNTs were longitudinally cut into multilayer graphene oxide nanoribbons by a modified Hummer method. To investigate the varying effects of different bandwidths of unzipped CNTs on their properties, four uCNTms were prepared by a vacuum-assisted filtration process. Unzipped-CNTs with different bandwidths were made by unzipping multiwalled CNTs with outer diameters of 0-10, 10-20, 20-30, and 30-50 nm and named uCNTm-1, uCNTm-2, uCNTm-3, and uCNTm-4, respectively. The uCNTms exhibited good stability in different pH solutions, and the water permeability of the composite membranes showed an increasing trend with the increase of the inserted uCNTm's bandwidth up to 107 L·m-2·h-1·bar-1, which was more than 10 times greater than that of pure GO membranes. The composite membranes showed decent dye screening performance with the rejection rate of methylene blue and rhodamine B both greater than 99%.

Removal of organic phosphonate HEDP by Eu-MOF/GO composite membrane

The efficient removal of organic phosphonate 1-hydroxyethylidene-1,1-diphosphonic acid (HEDP) from reverse osmosis brine concentrate was investigated by coupling adsorption and membrane separation. The prepared adsorbent of europium-metal organic framework (Eu-MOF) has an adsorption capacity of 37.31 mg-P/g for organic phosphine, which is the highest reported so far. Eu-MOF and graphene oxide (GO) were mixed and deposited on a supporter polyethersulfone by vacuum filtration to form Eu-MOF/GO composite membrane. The micro-space channels between the Eu-MOF straw-sheaf crystals and intrinsic nanosized pores in the Eu-MOFs served as separation membrane adsorbent with both high selectivity and high flux. The composite membrane could achieve a 100% rejection rate of HEDP from the simulated RO concentrate solution at pH 5–8, and the flux was more than six times that of a pure GO membrane. The increase in the interlayer spacing of GO nanosheets adjusted by Eu-MOF would enhance the permeation flux of the composite membrane. Most importantly, the Eu-MOF with the most probable pore size of 3.371 nm, embedded in the composite membrane, also increased permeation flux and at the same time enhanced the adsorption capacity of HEDP molecules. The separation mechanism of the composite membrane was mainly ligand exchange and hydrogen bonding. The trade-off effect between permeation flux and selectivity was overcome by the prepared composite membrane. This work provides a new strategy for designing composite membranes with adsorption function and such composite membrane can serve as a promising material for removing organic phosphonates from water.