Graphene oxide/triethanolamine modified titanate nanowires as photocatalytic membrane for water treatment

•GO/TEOA-TNWs composite has been prepared via a one-step synthesis approach.•Intercalation of TNWs into GO layers can produce more 2D nanochannels.•The GO/TEOA-TNWs membranes exhibit anti-fouling ability for water treatment.•The GO/TEOA-TNWs membranes show high water flux and rejection to organic dyes.

Graphene oxide (GO) membranes are a promising candidate for water treatment, such as sewage purification and desalination, due to its high mechanical strength, superior flexibility and hydrophilic property. However, one of their major application challenges is the membrane fouling, resulting in membrane blocking and poor water flux. Here, we incorporate triethanolamine (TEOA) modified titanate nanowires (TNWs) with GO membranes to resolve the fouling problem by taking advantage of enhanced membrane photocatalytic properties. The results show that the composite membranes exhibited remarkable photocatalytic degradation of Congon Red dyes under UV-light during filtration separation, and membrane fouling could be significantly alleviated after UV-light irradiation, leading to high water treatment performance for long-term cycling use. Furthermore, intercalation of TNWs between GO layers can produce a great quantity of nanochannels inside the membranes such that significantly increases the water flux. Besides, the presence of TEOA can evidently improve the aqueous stability for GO membranes, which is also an essential requirement for practical application. Our work demonstrates that endowing GO membranes with photocatalytic properties is an effective approach to resolve the fouling problem. And the as-prepared GO/TEOA-TNWs composite membranes are a promising material with anti-fouling function and highly-aqueous-stability for long-term practical water treatment applications.

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