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Stable graphene oxide-based composite membranes intercalated with montmorillonite nanoplatelets for water purification

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Abstract

Graphene oxide (GO) membranes have great potential in separation technology. However, their instability under aqueous environments hinders their separation performance and practical application. Herein, we present a facile and environmentally friendly method to fabricate stable GO-based membranes via the intercalation of montmorillonite (MMT) nanoplatelets. The as-prepared membranes remain stable under water (neutral, acidic, and alkaline) in a fully hydrated state and exhibit a high pure-water flux up to 139.5 L·m−2·h−1 under 0.09 MPa. Furthermore, they also show high organic molecule rejection (98.75% for Congo red, 99.44% for rhodamine B, 99.90% for crystal violet, 99.94% for methylene blue, 96.26% for phenanthracene, and 51.32% for phenol) as well as good removal rate of heavy metal ions (100% for Ag(I), 100% for Cu(II), and 27.04% for Cr(VI)). Moreover, an outstanding recycling ability of the membranes also has been obtained. These significant performances make our membranes a good candidate in water purification.

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Acknowledgements

Financial support of this work is acknowledged to the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51774245) and Sichuan Province Sci-Tech Supported Project (No. 2015RZ0023).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Oil & Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu, 610500, Sichuan, People’s Republic of China

    Jing Ma, Yi He, Heng Shi, Yi Fan, Hao Yu & Yubin Li

  2. College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu, 610500, Sichuan, People’s Republic of China

    Jing Ma, Yi He, Yi Fan, Hao Yu & Yubin Li

  3. Oil & Gas Field Applied Chemistry Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu, 610500, Sichuan, People’s Republic of China

    Jing Ma, Yi He & Heng Shi

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  1. Jing Ma
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Ma, J., He, Y., Shi, H. et al. Stable graphene oxide-based composite membranes intercalated with montmorillonite nanoplatelets for water purification. J Mater Sci 54, 2241–2255 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-018-2997-6

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