Graphene Oxide and Reduced Graphene Oxide as Nanofillers …
129
Fig. 10 Water contact angle
of different membranes. The
figure is adapted with
permission from Elsevier
[38]
matrix could improve mechanical strength and physical properties of the host PSF
polymer. To understand the hydrophilicity of the membrane surface, water contact
angle and also water uptake of the membrane were measured. Figure 10 shows the
water contact angle of membranes. As shown in Fig. 10, decreasing trend of contact
angle is seen by increasing the doped GO in the polymer matrix, which demonstrates
enhancement of the hydrophilic property of the membrane. This can be explained
by the behavior of GO during the formation of membrane that in the hydrophilic
GO moves toward the top surface of the mixed matrix membrane. Moreover, water
uptake results indicated that by increasing the loaded GO loading in the membrane,
the liquid uptake increases, which verify the enhancement in hydrophilic sites in the
mixed matrix.
Pure water flux and salt rejection of the fabricated membrane were also studied.
As is seen in Fig. 11, water flux of the membrane increases with increasing the loaded
Fig. 11 Pure water flux of
the membrane at different
applied pressures. The figure
is adapted with permission
from Elsevier [38]