Polyimide-graphene oxide nanofiltration membrane: Characterizations and application in enhanced high concentration salt removal

A membrane usually suffers from a reduction in membrane rejection performance when exposed to a concentrated salt solution. A fabricated polyimide (PI)/graphene oxide (GO) mixed matrix membrane (MMM) was prepared at different GO/PI concentrations (ranging from 0 to 3.5 wt%) to investigate membrane performance in diluted and concentrated salt solutions. Results showed that the MMM possess nanofiltration (NF) properties with high water permeability and excellent salt rejection (99%) in diluted conditions regardless of the applied filtration pressure. The water and permeate permeability increased with the increase in GO content. Interestingly, for concentrated salt solutions, PI/GO MMM only showed at most 4% reduction in rejection, unlike in pure PI membrane, which experienced 16% reduction. A higher amorphous region of the MMM compared to the pure PI in salt solutions was found through XRD. The ionization of GO increases the amorphous structure thus enhances the effective thickness of membrane maintaining the MMM rejection performance. 0.9 wt% GO/PI in MMM showed the highest rejection (98%) in 0.15 M Na2SO4. The presence of GO with its unique properties and highly porous structure was found to retain the membrane rejection properties, especially in concentrated solution.