title: Graphene Oxide as an Effective Barrier on a Porous Nanofibrous Membrane for Water Treatment.
abstract: A novel graphene oxide (GO)-based nanofiltration membrane on a highly porous polyacrylonitrile nanofibrous mat (GO@PAN) is prepared for water treatment applications. GO with large lateral size (more than 200 μm) is first synthesized through an improved Hummers method and then assembled on a highly porous nanofibrous mat by vacuum suction method. The prepared GO@PAN membrane is characterized by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, Raman spectrum, X-ray diffraction, and so forth. The results show that graphene oxide can form a barrier on the top of a PAN nanofibrous mat with controllable thickness. The obtained graphene oxide layer exhibits "ideal" pathways (hydrophobic nanochannel) for water molecules between the well-stacked GO nanosheets. Water flux under an extremely low external pressure (1.0 bar) significantly increased due to the unique structure of the GO layer and nanofibrous support. Furthermore, the GO@PAN membrane shows high rejection performance (nearly 100% rejection of Congo red and 56.7% for Na2SO4). A hydrophilic-hydrophobic "gate"-nanochannel model is presented for explaining the water diffusion mechanism through the GO layer. This method for fabrication of the GO membrane on a highly porous support may provide many new opportunities for high performance nanofiltration applications.
authors: Key Laboratory of Carbon Fiber and Functional Polymers, Beijing University of Chemical Technology , Beijing 100029, P. R. China.|Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Hong Kong , Hong Kong 999077, P. R. China.
authors: Jianqiang
authors: J
authors: Wang
authors: Key Laboratory of Carbon Fiber and Functional Polymers, Beijing University of Chemical Technology , Beijing 100029, P. R. China.
authors: Pan
authors: P
authors: Zhang
authors: Key Laboratory of Carbon Fiber and Functional Polymers, Beijing University of Chemical Technology , Beijing 100029, P. R. China.
authors: Bin
authors: B
authors: Liang
authors: Key Laboratory of Carbon Fiber and Functional Polymers, Beijing University of Chemical Technology , Beijing 100029, P. R. China.
authors: Yuxuan
authors: Y
authors: Liu
authors: Key Laboratory of Carbon Fiber and Functional Polymers, Beijing University of Chemical Technology , Beijing 100029, P. R. China.
authors: Tao
authors: T
authors: Xu
authors: Key Laboratory of Carbon Fiber and Functional Polymers, Beijing University of Chemical Technology , Beijing 100029, P. R. China.
authors: Lifang
authors: L
authors: Wang
authors: Key Laboratory of Carbon Fiber and Functional Polymers, Beijing University of Chemical Technology , Beijing 100029, P. R. China.
authors: Bing
authors: B
authors: Cao
authors: Key Laboratory of Carbon Fiber and Functional Polymers, Beijing University of Chemical Technology , Beijing 100029, P. R. China.
authors: Kai
authors: K
authors: Pan
keywords: electrospun; graphene oxide; nanofibrous membrane; nanofiltration; water treatment