In situ oxidation of reduced graphene oxide membranes by peracetic acid for dye desalination

Graphene oxide (GO) membranes with tunable interlayer spacings are of interest for dye removal from salty textile wastewater, and the membranes are often reduced to improve their stability, which inevitably lowers water permeance. Herein, we demonstrate that reduced GO (rGO) membranes can be facilely modified using peracetic acid (PAA) in situ to dramatically enhance water permeance while retaining dye rejection. Specifically, PAA-modified membranes (PrGO) are synthesized by vacuum-filtering hydrazine-reduced rGO nanosheets onto Nylon substrate and then exposing them to PAA solutions. The effects of the rGO layer thickness, PAA content, and PAA exposure time on the membrane chemistry, nanostructures, and salt/dye separation properties are thoroughly examined. For example, the PAA oxidation of a 100 nm-thick rGO membrane for 10 min increases water permeance by 180 %, from 35 to 93 Liter m−2 h−1 bar−1, and decreases Na2SO4 rejection from 10 % to 3.3 % while retaining the rejection of Congo red at ≈99.7 %. The PrGO membranes exhibit stable water permeance and >99 % dye rejection in multi-cycle tests in a crossflow system, surpassing state-of-the-art GO membranes and showcasing their potential for practical applications.