Projects per year
Abstract
Reduced graphene oxide (rGO) membranes have drawn intensive attention in applications of desalination and molecular sieving, owing to their stable and selective two-dimensional (2D) channels. However, their performance, particularly the selectivity for water and ions separation, is still under the theoretical limit. In this research, we incorporated potassium cations (K+) into the laminar channels of rGO membranes to form stable and selective K-controlled rGO (K-rGO) membranes for water and NaCl separation. These K-rGO membranes can be prepared by either thermally reducing K-controlled GO (K-GO) membranes in air or by soaking rGO membranes thermal-reduced in air (Air-rGO) in KCl solutions. Compared with reported K-GO and Air-rGO membranes, as-prepared K-rGO membranes exhibit narrower interlayer spacing in NaCl solutions due to the strong K+-π interaction between K+ and π-electron cloud on rGO nanosheets. This strong K+-π interaction can stabilize and confine 2D nanochannels and prevent the permeation of other cations, such as Na+, into rGO laminates, contributing to the enhanced NaCl rejection (91%) of K-rGO membranes. This work advances the understanding of the mass transport in rGO membranes and provides new insights into the design of selective 2D membranes for desalination, ionic sieving and other environmental applications.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 118995 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Journal of Membrane Science |
Volume | 621 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Mar 2021 |
Keywords
- Cation-π interaction
- Interlayer spacing
- NaCl rejection
- rGO membranes
Projects
- 9 Finished
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A novel outer-selective hollow fibre nanocomposite membranes tailored for osmotic membrane bioreactor technology: alternative technology for high quality water reuse
Shon , H. & Zhang, X.
3/01/20 → 15/12/22
Project: Research
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A separation platform for resource recovery from wastewater
Nghiem, L., Zhang, X., Elimelech, M. & Leong, S.
University of Technology (UTS) Sydney, Monash University – Internal Faculty Contribution, Yale University
1/07/19 → 31/12/21
Project: Research
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Catalytic Bio-Oil Upgrading and Separation into Advanced Materials
Zhang, L., Anthony Davis, P., Zhang, X. & Leong, S.
16/04/19 → 15/12/21
Project: Research
Equipment
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Centre for Electron Microscopy (MCEM)
Flame Sorrell (Manager) & Peter Miller (Manager)
Office of the Vice-Provost (Research and Research Infrastructure)Facility/equipment: Facility