Polymer nanocomposites with graphene-based hierarchical fillers as materials for multifunctional water treatment membranes

• Catalytic nano-Au supported on exfoliated graphite nanoplatelets used as membrane filler.
• Filler addition improves membrane's permeability, selectivity and resistance to compaction.
• First polymer nanocomposite membranes with graphene-based fillers.
• Membrane structure and catalytic activity can be controlled largely independently.

Phase inversion of polymer casting mixtures filled with hierarchical functional nanostructures is proposed as a synthetic route for the design of multifunctional membranes. The study tested the hypothesis that by regulating the relative content of components representing different levels in the nanofiller hierarchy, the structure and additional functions of such membranes could be controlled separately. Exfoliated graphite nanoplatelets (xGnPs) decorated by Au nanoparticles (Au NPs), used as a model hierarchical nanofiller, were added to the casting mixture of polysulfone, N-Methyl-2-pyrrolidone and polyethylene glycol prior to forming the membrane by phase inversion. The resulting porous asymmetric nanocomposites were shown to be permselective and catalytically active ultrafiltration membranes that were more resistant to compaction, more permeable than xGnP-free membranes and at least as selective. By designing membrane compositions with different relative amounts of Au-decorated xGnPs and Au-free xGnPs, the structure (controlled by the loading of xGnPs) and catalytic activity (controlled by the loading of Au NPs) could be controlled largely independently.

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