Removal of Antibiotics From Water with an All-Carbon 3D Nanofiltration Membrane

• Published in: Nanoscale research letters Vol. 13; no. 1; pp. 146 - 8
• Main Authors: Yang, Guo-hai, Bao, Dan-dan, Zhang, Da-qing, Wang, Cheng, Qu, Lu-lu, Li, Hai-tao
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 10.05.2018; Springer Nature B.V; SpringerOpen
• Subjects: Adsorption; All-carbon membrane; Antibiotics; Carbon; Cationic dyes; Chemistry and Materials Science; Contact angle; Electrostatic properties; Energy demand; Graphene; Graphene oxide; Materials Science; Membranes; Methylene blue; Molecular chains; Molecular Medicine; Multi wall carbon nanotubes; Nano Express; Nanochannels; Nanochemistry; Nanofiltration; Nanoscale Science and Technology; Nanotechnology; Nanotechnology and Microengineering; Nanotubes; Oxidation; Pollutants; Water; Nanochannels; Graphene oxide; Antibiotics; All-carbon membrane
• ISSN: 1931-7573; 1556-276X
• DOI: 10.1186/s11671-018-2555-9

Recent industrial developments and increased energy demand have resulted in significantly increased levels of environmental pollutants, which have become a serious global problem. Herein, we propose a novel all-carbon nanofiltration (NF) membrane that consists of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) interposed between graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets to form a three-dimensional (3D) structure. The as-prepared membrane has abundant two-dimensional (2D) nanochannels that can physically sieve antibiotic molecules through electrostatic interaction. As a result, the prepared membrane, with a thickness of 4.26 μm, shows both a high adsorption of 99.23% for tetracycline hydrochloride (TCH) and a high water permeation of 16.12 L m − 2  h − 1  bar − 1 . In addition, the cationic dye methylene blue (MB) was also removed to an extent of 83.88%, indicating broad applications of the prepared membrane.