PVDF ultrafiltration membranes containing copper oxide-charcoal based graphene oxide nanohybrids with enhanced performance and antifouling properties

Charcoal based graphene oxide-copper oxide (GO-CuO) nanohybrids were successfully synthesized via the co-precipitation method. It was then used to improve polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) ultrafiltration (UF) membrane properties and performance. The PVDF/GO-CuO UF nanocomposite membranes containing different contents of the synthesized GO-CuO nanohybrids were prepared via the phase inversion method. It was found that hydrophilicity of PVDF membrane containing 0.2 wt% of the synthesized GO-CuO nanohybrids increases than the neat PVDF membrane, so that its water contact angle (WCA) decreases from 80.68±1.23° for the neat PVDF membrane to 60.53±5.25° for the modified membrane containing 0.2 wt% of the synthesized GO-CuO nanohybrids. On the other hand, compared to the neat PVDF membrane, pure water flux (PWF) of this modified nanocomposite membrane increases by about 77% (from 101.1±1.82 to 178.87±1.47 LMH) and exhibits 94.28±0.93% rejection of bovine serum albumin (BSA). This improvement is due to increased hydrophilicity, porosity, average membrane pore size, and decreased membrane surface roughness. The results of fouling measurements showed 42%, 60%, and 8% reduction in total fouling ratio (Rt), irreversible fouling ratio (Rir), and reversible fouling ratio (Rr), respectively. This indicated that antifouling properties of the modified membrane is significantly improved. It was found that the fabricated PVDF/GO-CuO nanocomposite membrane exhibits better performance than the neat PVDF membrane. Also, the results showed that this membrane also exhibits better properties and performance than the PVDF/GO and PVDF/CuO nanocomposite membranes. Therefore, it can be concluded that the fabricated PVDF/GO-CuO nanocomposite membrane has excellent potential for water and wastewater treatment applications.