Forward osmosis water desalination: Fabrication of graphene oxide-polyamide/polysulfone thin-film nanocomposite membrane with high water flux and low reverse salt diffusion

This paper investigates the synthesis of graphene oxide (GO)-incorporated polyamide thin-film nanocomposite (TFN) membranes on polysulfone substrate for forward osmosis applications. The GO nanosheets were embedded into polyamide layer using different concentrations (0.05-0.2wt%). The results represented the alteration of polyamide surface by GO nanosheets and enhancing the surface hydrophilicity by increasing the GO loading. The results showed that the water flux for 0.1wt% GO embedded nanocomposite (TFN) membrane was 34.7L/m(2)h, representing 90% improvement compared to the thin-film composite, while the salt reverse diffusion was reduced up to 39%.