Edokali, M., Bocking, R., Massey, A. et al. (4 more authors) (2024) Effect of polymer-entwined reduced graphene oxide laminates on the performance and stability of forward osmosis membranes for water desalination. Polymer, 312. 127644. ISSN 0032-3861
Abstract
Layered graphene oxide (GO) membranes have been widely employed for water desalination in forward osmosis (FO) systems, however, the balance between performance and long-term stability of membranes is still a trade-off in the practical application. A newly developed laminar GO-based FO membrane was prepared by a two-step protocol, including acid treatment of GO before crosslinking and reduction of GO by hyperbranched polyethylenimine (HPEI), and followed by coating HPEI-reduced graphene oxide (HPEI:rGO) laminates by polyethylene glycol (PEG). It is suggested that the long-chain and amino-enrichment HPEI polymer can be covalently bonded with the acid-treated GO at elevated temperatures. This chemical process partially removed oxygen-containing functional groups of GO and formed a nanocomposite structure with tuned interlaminar spacing for better selectivity of NaCl ions. Subsequently, the infiltration of PEG molecules through the HPEI-rGO structure improved the hydrophilicity, and hence the water permeability across the PEI60k:rGO/PEG membrane. In this study, the resultant membrane exhibited water flux of 7.7 LMH, salt rejection efficiency of 97.9 %, and low reverse solute flux of 0.56 gMH in an FO filtration process. Also, synergistic effects of the double-polymer modification reinforced enhancement of dimensional integrity and durability of the membrane structure in both ionic and harsh conditions.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2024 The Authors. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Keywords: | Forward osmosis membranes; Reduced graphene oxide; Hyperbranched polyethylenimine; Polyethylene glycol; Water desalination; Membrane stability |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Chemistry (Leeds) > Inorganic Chemistry (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council) EP/T012153/1 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 16 Oct 2024 10:19 |
Last Modified: | 16 Oct 2024 10:19 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Elsevier |
Identification Number: | 10.1016/j.polymer.2024.127644 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:218491 |