Electroconductive RGO-MXene membranes with wettability-regulated channels: improved water permeability and electro-enhanced rejection performance

doi:10.1007/s11783-023-1601-8

Front. Environ. Sci. Eng.

2023, Vol. 17

Issue (1) : 1 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-023-1601-8

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Electroconductive RGO-MXene membranes with wettability-regulated channels: improved water permeability and electro-enhanced rejection performance

Xiaoying Wang, Haiguang Zhang, Xu Wang, Shuo Chen, Hongtao Yu, Xie Quan(

)

Key Laboratory of Industrial Ecology and Environmental Engineering (Ministry of Education), School of Environmental Science and Technology, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China

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Abstract

● Electroconductive RGO-MXene membranes were fabricated.

● Wettable membrane channels were established between RGO and MXene nanosheets.

● Hydrophilic MXene reduces the resistance of water entering the membrane channels.

● Water permeance of RGO-MXene membrane is 16.8 times higher than that of RGO membrane.

● Electro-assistance can enhance the dye rejection performance of RGO-MXene membrane.

Reduced graphene oxide (RGO) membranes are theoretically more conducive to the rapid transport of water molecules in their channels compared with graphene oxide (GO) membranes, as they have fewer oxygen-containing functional groups and more non-oxidized regions. However, the weak hydrophilicity of RGO membranes inhibits water entry into their channels, resulting in their low water permeability. In this work, we constructed wettable RGO-MXene channels by intercalating hydrophilic MXene nanosheets into the RGO membrane for improving the water permeance. The RGO-MXene composite membrane exhibits high pure water permeance of 62.1 L/(m²·h·bar), approximately 16.8 times that of the RGO membrane (3.7 L/(m²·h·bar)). Wettability test results and molecular dynamics simulations suggest that the improved water permeance results from the enhanced wettability of RGO-MXene membrane and increased rate of water molecules entering the RGO-MXene channels. Benefiting from good conductivity, the RGO-MXene membrane with electro-assistance exhibits significantly increased rejection rates for negatively charged dyes (from 56.0% at 0 V to 91.4% at 2.0 V for Orange G) without decreasing the permeate flux, which could be attributed to enhanced electrostatic repulsion under electro-assistance.

Keywords Reduced graphene oxide MXene Membrane Water permeance Dye rejection Electro-assistance

Corresponding Author(s): Xie Quan

Issue Date: 14 July 2022

Cite this article:

Xiaoying Wang,Haiguang Zhang,Xu Wang, et al. Electroconductive RGO-MXene membranes with wettability-regulated channels: improved water permeability and electro-enhanced rejection performance[J]. Front. Environ. Sci. Eng., 2023, 17(1): 1.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/fese/EN/10.1007/s11783-023-1601-8
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fese/EN/Y2023/V17/I1/1

Fig.1 (a) Illustration of the preparation process of RGO-MXene membranes; (b) AFM image of RGO nanosheets; (c) XPS C 1s spectra of RGO and GO; (d) Water contact angle of RGO; (e) AFM image of MXene nanosheets; (f) XRD spectra of MXene and Ti₃AlC₂; (g) Water contact angle of MXene.

Fig.2 SEM images of the surfaces of RGO (a) and RGO-MXene (b) membranes; (c) XPS spectra of RGO, MXene and RGO-MXene membranes; (d) Raman spectra of RGO, MXene and RGO-MXene membranes (inset: amplified Raman spectra of RGO, MXene and RGO-MXene membranes in the range of 100–800 cm^?1); (e) XRD patterns of RGO, MXene and RGO-MXene membranes; (f) XRD patterns of RGO-MXene membranes at wet and dry states.

Fig.3 Pure water permeances (a) and water contact angles (b) of RGO, RM-30, RM-50, RM-60, RM-65 and RM-70 membranes; (c, d) Molecular dynamics simulations of water molecules through RGO-RGO channels and RGO-MXene channels: Snapshots of water molecules in the two channels when the simulation time is 0 ps and 100 ps in the simulation system; (e) The number of water molecules in the RGO-RGO and RGO-MXene channels as the function of time; (f) The rates of water molecules entering RGO-RGO and RGO-MXene channels; (g) The interaction energies between water molecules and the RGO-RGO and RGO-MXene channels as the function of time; (h) Permeate fluxes and OG rejection rates of RGO, RM-30, RM-50, RM-60, RM-65 and RM-70 membranes (OG concentration: 20 mg/L; pressure: 1 bar).

Fig.4 (a) Permeate fluxes and (b) OG rejection rates of RGO, RM-30, RM-50, RM-60, RM-65 and RM-70 membranes under 0 V and 2.0 V; (c) OG rejection rates of RM-65 membrane under different voltages; (d) OG rejection rates of RM-65 membrane without and with electro-assistance for 5 cycles; (e) Rejection rates of RM-65 membrane for RhB (neutrally charged), MLB and AB (positively charged), MO, CR, CBB and MB (negatively charged) under 0 V and 2.0 V (dye concentration: 20 mg/L; pressure: 1 bar).

Tab.1 Filtration performance of RM-65 membrane compared with previous membranes

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