Electrochemical manufacture of graphene oxide/polyaniline conductive membrane for antibacterial application and electrically enhanced water permeability

Electrofiltration, an effective approach for membrane fouling mitigation, is significantly limited by membrane properties. A facile electrochemical method was proposed to fabricate the graphene oxide/sulfuric acid-doped polyaniline (GO/S-PANI) membrane. For which, charging the graphite in H2SO4 (98 wt%) to obtain graphite intercalation compound (GIC), then in a mixed electrolyte (H2SO4, CuSO4, (NH4)2SO4), GO was exfoliated and assembled concurrently on the PANI membrane, which was doped by H2SO4 simultaneously. The introduction of Cu2+ made the GO layers on the membrane stable. Also, the GO/S-PANI membrane showed higher conductivity (55.6 S m−1) than the PANI membrane (0.019 S m−1). Moreover, GO/S-PANI membrane possessed a more applicable pore structure and improved hydrophilicity. As a result, membrane rejection increased, and the resistance to the negatively charged pollutants was enhanced. For 1 V electrofiltration of yeast suspension, water permeation was sustainably raised by using GO/S-PANI membrane than PANI membrane. The GO/S-PANI membrane was more stable with 1 V than without electric fields. The antibacterial rate can reach 92.1% for the GO/S-PANI membrane against Escherichia coli. Overall, our strategy provides a facile preparation method for the GO/S-PANI conductive membrane with application potential in electrofiltration and antibacterial fields. [Display omitted] •Through an electrochemical strategy, GO/S-PANI membrane was readily fabricated.•Doping of H2SO4 increased the membrane conductivity by three orders of magnitude.•Enhanced resistance to yeasts and great water permeability was realized by GO/S-PANI.•GO/S-PANI membrane possessed an excellent antibacterial rate of 92.1%.