Synthesis of polyaspartic acid/graphene oxide grafted copolymer and evaluation of scale inhibition and dispersion performance

In the study, polyaspartic acid and graphene oxide were taken as raw materials to synthesize a novel and highly efficient polyaspartic acid/graphene oxide grafted copolymer (PASP/GO) by chemical modification. From the perspective of chemical structures and morphologies, FTIR, H-1 NMR, SEM and TEM indicated a success in the synthesis of PASP/GO. The thermal stability and surface area of PASP/GO were analyzed by TG and BET, respectively. Then, a static scale inhibition experiment was conducted to study the inhibition efficiency of PASP/GO against CaCO3 and CaSO4, while the inhibition performance and morphology were characterized by XRD and SEM. Besides, the dispersion capacity of PASP/GO for Fe2O3 was studied, and the molecular dynamics simulation was carried out to analyze the scale inhibition mechanism of PASP/GO. According to the results, PASP/GO exhibited excellent inhibition performance and dispersion capacity, and PASP/GO adsorbs scale particles by chelation, crystal distortion and dispersion.