Effect of triple-tail surfactant on the morphological properties of polyethersulfone-based membrane and its antifouling ability

This study presents a simpler approach to directly synthesize graphene oxide (GO) via electrochemical exfoliation method utilizing customized triple-tail 1-butyl-3-methyl-imidazolium, 1, 4-bis(neopentyoxy)-3-(neopentyloxycarbonyl)-1, 4-dioxobutane-2-sulfonate (BMIM-TC14) and sodium 1,4-bis(neopentyloxy)-3-(neopentylcarbonyl)-1,4-dioxobutane-2-sulfonate (TC14) surfactants. The synthesized GO and titanium dioxide (TiO2) were then used as additives in the fabrication of polyethersulfone (PES)-based nanofiltration (NF) membrane via non-solvent-induced phase separation method. The dye rejection performance and antifouling ability of the fabricated PES/GOBMIM-TC14/TiO2 and PES/GOTC14/TiO2 NF membranes were then investigated by comparing it with pristine PES membrane. It is worth noting that the utilization of triple-tail surfactant obviously enhanced membrane’s morphology in which PES/GOTC14/TiO2 NF membrane showed the highest hydrophilicity as shown by its lowest contact angle (68.98°). According to dead-end cell measurement, higher pure water flux (200.265 L/m2·h) and dye rejection (86.58%) were also obtained by PES/GOTC14/TiO2 NF membrane compared to other fabricated membranes. Higher GO amount in the sample resulted from the utilization of triple-tail surfactants that was believed to improve the dye rejection performance and antifouling abilities. Both GO-based NF membranes also showed a high flux recovery ratio (> 100%) compared to the pristine PES membrane (5.88%), thereby implied their excellent antifouling ability.