Surface Decoration of Amino-Functionalized Metal–Organic Framework/Graphene Oxide Composite onto Polydopamine-Coated Membrane Substrate for Highly Efficient Heavy Metal Removal

Abstract

A new metal–organic framework/graphene oxide composite (IRMOF-3/GO) with high adsorption capacity of copper(II) (maximal adsorption amount = 254.14 mg/g at pH 5.0 and 25 °C) was prepared. Novel and highly efficient nanofiltration (NF) membrane can be facilely fabricated via surface decoration of IRMOF-3/GO onto polydopamine (PDA)-coated polysulfone (PSF) substrate. After decoration of IRMOF-3/GO, membrane surface potential increased from 6.7 to 13.1 mV at pH 5.0 and 25 °C. Due to the adsorption effect of IRMOF-3/GO and the enhancement of membrane surface potential, the prepared NF membrane (the loading amount of IRMOF-3/GO is ca. 13.6 g/m 2 ) exhibits a highly efficient rejection of copper(II). The copper(II) rejection reaches up to ∼90%, while maintaining a relatively high flux of ∼31 L/m 2 /h at the pressure of 0.7 MPa and pH 5.0. Moreover, the membrane also presents an outstanding stability throughout the 2000 min NF testing period. Thus, the newly developed NF membrane shows a promising potential for water cleaning. This work provides a worthy reference for designing highly efficient NF membranes modified by metal–organic framework (MOF) relevant materials.