Filtration membranes of reduced graphene oxide for dye removal – production and characterization

Pollution of water sources is a growing problem in modern society, with dyes from the textile and manufacturing industry being one of the most common pollutants in wastewater. The improper disposal of water with residual dyes represents a risk of contamination of effluents, fresh water sources and soil. The identification of approaches to treat dyes wastewater is a need. Carbon nanomaterials, especially graphene oxide (GO) and reduced graphene oxide (rGO), are good candidates for application in filtration membranes, due to their chemical structure and physical properties. In this study, we described the production and characterization of rGO dispersions with suitable properties for the application in filtration membranes production. A facile spray coating method was employed to deposit rGO on cellulose acetate membranes, producing uniform and stable rGO filtration membranes. The thickness of deposited rGO layer varies from 0.25 to 0.72 μm, the rejection to aniline blue reached 70% and the pure water flux was 26.5 L/m2·h, indicating that these membranes has good application prospects for dyes removal. Our study reveals a simple, cost-effective, and scalable strategy for eliminating a large proportion of dyes from wastewater across multiple industry sectors.