Effect of Addition Amount of Ethylenediamine on Interlayer Nanochannels and the Separation Performance of Graphene Oxide Membranes

In recent years, graphene oxide (GO)-based two-dimensional (2D) laminar membranes have attracted considerable attention because of their unique well-defined nanochannels and deliver a wide range of molecular separation properties and fundamentals. However, the practical application of 2D GO layered membranes suffers from instability in aqueous solutions as the interlayer <i>d</i>-spacing of GO membranes is prone to expansion caused by the hydration effect. In this study, the effects of the ethylenediamine (EDA) addition amount on the structure, crosslinking mechanism and separation performance of GO membranes were investigated systematically, and membrane performance was evaluated using water permeability and dye/salt rejection tests. The experimental results show that the amine groups of EDA chemically bond with the hydroxyl functional group (O=C-OH) of GO after intercalation, as evident from Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). By further controlling the amount of the intercalated EDA, the as-prepared GO composite membranes show nanoscale-tuned <i>d</i>-spacing promising for downstream applications. In the demonstrated dye/salt nanofiltration scenario, the EDA intercalated and crosslinked GO membrane has enhanced permeability by over five times and a better dye rejection rate of over 96% compared with pure GO membranes. These findings highlight a facile strategy for controlling nanochannels by tuning the amounts of reactive intercalants.