Development of thin film nanocomposite embedded with graphene oxide for MgSo4 removal

Abstract

Thin film nanocomposite (TFN) membrane with graphene oxide (GO) embedded into the polyamide (PA) selective top layer has been developed for salt removal. 0.1 wt% of GO were dispersed in the trimesoyl chloride (TMC) organic solution and incorporated into the PA layer during interfacial polymerization with piperazine. The fabricated TFN membrane was characterized in terms of the membrane morphological structure and surface hydrophilicity. The divalent magnesium sulfate (MgSO4) salt removal performance of the TFN was evaluated and compared with the thin film composite (TFC) counterpart. The surface morphology of the TFN membranes was altered and the surface hydrophilicity was increased with the presence of GO. The incorporation of GO has improved the permeate water flux, in which maximum improvement of 140% compared to that of TFC has been obtained, without sacrificing much on the salt rejection properties. Although further investigation is required, this study has experimentally verified the potential application of GO to heighten the salt separation performance of TFN membranes.