The sustainability of clean drinking water for homes and industries has become a global challenge. Current water desalination membranes are extremely sensitive to oxidation and may result in desalination membrane failure when exposed to strong oxidants such as chlorine and chromate. This work, therefore, investigated the oxidation resistance of reduced graphene oxide (RGO) membranes to help turn seawater and wastewater into drinkable water in a sustainable way. Chromate solutions at different pH levels were used with the RGO membranes. Graphene oxide was first synthesized using the Tour method, followed by the hydrothermal reaction to reduce it to partially reduced graphene oxide. The resulting RGO suspension was used to fabricate RGO membranes via vacuum filtration. The membrane structures were analyzed by XPS, SEM, FTIR, etc. The filtration of sodium chloride before and after exposure to chromate was carried out by means of forward osmosis (FO). The filtration efficiency, the water and ion permeability, and the stability of the membranes were evaluated by IR, UV-visible absorption, and electric conductivity measurements. It was revealed that the filtration capability of the RGO membranes was recoverable even after extensive contact with chromate at a high concentration and at pH levels as low as 2, completely different from a commercial FO membrane. This work might lead to low-cost, oxidation-resistant, highly efficient water filtration membranes for seawater desalination and wastewater purification.

Investigating the oxidation resistance of reduced graphene oxide filtration membranes for sustainable water purification

ACS Spring 2022

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.