Abstract
Herein, we are reporting the carbon nano onions (CNO)-based sulphonated poly(ethersulfone) (SPES) composite membranes by varying CNO content in SPES matrix for water desalination applications. CNOs were cost-effectively synthesized using flaxseed oil as a carbon source in an energy efficient flame pyrolysis process. The physico- and electrochemical properties of nanocomposite membranes were evaluated and compared to pristine SPES. Moreover, the chemical characterisation of composite membranes and CNOs were illustrated using techniques such as nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and universal tensile machine (UTM). In the series of nanocomposite membranes, SPES-0.25 composite membrane displayed the highest water uptake (WU), ion exchange membrane (IEC) and ionic conductivity (IC) values that were enhanced by 9.25%, ~ 44.78% and ~ 6.10%, respectively, compared to pristine SPES membrane. The electrodialytic performance can be achieved maximum when membranes possess low power consumption (PC) and high energy efficiency (Ee). Therefore, the value of Ee and Pc for SPES-0.25 membrane has been determined to be 99.01 ± 0.97% and 0.92 ± 0.01 kWh kg−1, which are 1.12 and 1.11 times higher than the pristine SPES membrane. Hence, integrating CNO nanoparticles into the SPES matrix enhanced the ion-conducting channels.
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The authors are thankful to MRC, MNIT Jaipur, for the characterization facilities.
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IUAC, New Delhi, provided the financial support [UFR 56321].
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All authors have contributed to the study conception and design. Poonam Kumari: material preparation, data collection and analysis. Prashant Upadhyay: membrane preparation, formal analysis, writing original draft, Kumud Malika Tripathi: formal analysis, editing manuscript. Ragini Gupta: supervision, conceptualization and editing, Vaibhav Kulshrestha: conceptualization, supervision, data analysis and editing Kamlendra Awasthi: conceptualization, supervision and editing. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Kumari, ., Upadhyay, P., Tripathi, K.M. et al. Sulphonated poly(ethersulfone)/carbon nano-onions-based nanocomposite membranes with high ion-conducting channels for salt removal via electrodialysis. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 87343–87352 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-28570-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-28570-1