Fabrication of Fouling Resistant PC Membrane by Incorporating Chitosan Grafted on Graphene Oxide Composite for Efficient Arsenate Removal from Water

Chitosan grafted on graphene oxide (CS/GO) composite was synthesized to incorporate in polycarbonate (PC) membrane to improve its antifouling and arsenate (AsV) removal capabilities. The FTIR analysis and zeta potential measurement confirmed fine amine groups of CS on GO sheets and their presence in the fabricated membranes. The influence of different content of CS/GO composite on the structural properties, AsV removal efficiency and fouling resistance characteristics of the membranes were explored. The results indicated that the porosity, water uptake, mechanical properties and hydrophilicity of the membranes are enhanced with an increase of CS/GO concentration up to 1.5 wt%. Moreover, the results showed that the pure water flux (PWF) was 45 L m–2 h−1 for neat PC membrane while it was significantly increased for the modified membranes except for 2.0 wt% CS/GO and the best case reached to 111 L m–2 h−1 for PC-CS/GO-1.5 membrane. The AsV rejection by modified membranes increased from 75.1% (PC-CS/GO-0.5) to 100% (PC-CS/GO-1.0). The rejection of humic acid (HA) in solution of HA-As mixing slightly decreased, however AsV rejection improved in this solution. Fouling resistance of the membranes assessed by 10 ppm HA solution filtration revealed that 1.5 wt% CS/GO membrane has the best antifouling property.