Greatly Improved Oil-in-Water Emulsion Separation Properties of Graphene Oxide Membrane upon Compositing with Halloysite Nanotubes

Graphene oxide (GO)-based membranes provide an encouraging opportunity for oil-in-water emulsion separation with high separation efficiency. In this work, novel hierarchically structured membrane consisting of GO and halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) was successfully fabricated by vacuum-assisted filtration method. XRD and TEM measurements showed the successful intercalation of HNTs into the interlayers of GO nanosheets. With the incorporation of the one-dimensional hollow tubular structure halloysite nanotubes, GO-HNTs(GOH) membrane possessed combined advantages of high oil rejection rate and excellent fouling resistance properties. The permeate fluxes increased from 286.6 L/(m(2)center dot h) for GO membrane to 716 L/(m(2)center dot h) for GOH membrane. The results indicate that the GOH membranes have great potential applications in water purification and wastewater treatment.