Improved Performance of Thin Film Nanocomposite (TFN) Nanofiltration Membrane-by the Addition of Functionalized Graphene Oxide for Desalination Application

Abstract

To develop a high-performance thin-film nanocomposite (TFN) nanofiltration (NF) membrane, the functionalized graphene-based nanomaterial was synthesized by combining graphene oxide (GO) with a hyperbranched polymer, which was used as the novel nanofiller and successfully embedded into the active layers on polysulfone (PSf) via interfacial polymerization (IP) process. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and Field-emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM) were used to characterize the obtained NF membrane, and its performance was evaluated according to the water flux with the addition of f-GO, TFN0.05 membrane exhibit the optimal, and salt rejection rate. The influence of f-GO on the morphologies, properties, and performance of TFN NF membranes was investigated. With the addition of the f-GO membrane exhibited the optimal water flux without the sacrifice of the salt rejection. It was found that the introduction of functionalized graphene-based nanomaterial nanosheets favored the formation of a thinner and smoother nanocomposite active layer with enhanced hydrophilicity. As a result, TFN NF membranes demonstrated a superior permease activity over the conventional thin-film composite (TFC) membranes.