Polyamide-crosslinked graphene oxide membrane for forward osmosis

A novel polyamide-graphene oxide (PA-GO) membrane was synthesized on a polyethersulfone support by first intra-crosslinking GO aggregates via m-xylylenediamine (MXDA) and then inter-crosslinking GO aggregates via trimethyle chloride (TMC). This method allows for the use of hydrophilic, more porous supports in forward osmosis (FO) membranes, thereby lending much flexibility to membrane synthesis and also potentially reducing internal concentration polarization in FO. The elemental composition, morphology, and hydrophilicity of the synthesized PA-GO membrane were characterized to confirm intra-and inter-crosslinking reactions and understand membrane properties. It was found that the mixing temperature of MXDA and GO should be controlled below 20 degrees C to avoid the formation of large GO aggregates and hence reduce membrane heterogeneity and defects. The performance of the PA-GO membrane was compared with that of a commercial FO membrane using trisodium citrate (TSC), Na2SO4, and MgCl2, respectively, as draw solutes. Under the same osmotic pressure, the water flux of the PA-GO membrane was the highest with TSC as draw solute, moderate with Na2SO4, and almost zero with MgCl2, while the ranking of solute fluxes followed a reverse order, revealing that an effective solute barrier plays an important role in making FO membranes with high water flux and low solute flux.