Abstract
Thin film nanocomposite (TFN) membranes of polymer of intrinsic microporosity PIM-1 incorporating graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets of different sizes and chemistries are presented. These membranes show an improved separation performance for the recovery of n-butanol from aqueous solutions through pervaporation; an improvement of ca. a third of the value achieved for pristine PIM-1 thin films is obtained for TFN membranes filled with nanometer-sized reduced octyl-functionalized GO. In addition, these nanometer-sized fillers lead to a maximum increase in total flux of approximately 40%. The thickness of the supported films is in the range 1–1.5 µm, and fillers used are micrometer- and nanometer-sized alkyl-functionalized GO nanosheets and their chemically reduced counterparts. As evidenced by a superior overall membrane performance, the interfacial interaction between the filler and the polymer matrix is enhanced for those whose lateral size is in the nanometer range. Moreover, an enhancement in the separation performance and productivity of such membranes is observed for higher operating temperatures and higher contents of n-butanol in the feed.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 390-401 |
Number of pages | 12 |
Journal | Journal of Membrane Science |
Volume | 565 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Nov 1 2018 |
Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The authors thank the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council EPSRC for funding ( EP/K016946/1 and EP/M001342/1 ). M. Alberto and J. M. Luque-Alled thank to the School of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science – The University of Manchester for funding their Ph.D studies. Appendix A
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Elsevier B.V.
Keywords
- Alkyl functionalization
- Graphene oxide
- Pervaporation
- Polymer of intrinsic microporosity PIM-1
- Thin film nanocomposite membranes
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Biochemistry
- Materials Science(all)
- Physical and Theoretical Chemistry
- Filtration and Separation