Abstract Air gap membrane distillation (AGMD) is an emerging desalination technology with the potential to meet the challenge of global water scarcity due to its low cost and high thermal efficiency compared to other processes. However, despite the potential of AGMD, a lack of appropriate membranes limits its commercial application. Therefore, this study was focussed on the fabrication of high flux, robust membranes for the purification of artificial sea water by incorporating graphene oxide functionalized with 3-(aminopropyl)triethoxysilane (APTS) into PVDF polymer solutions. Successful functionalisation of GO with APTS was confirmed with XPS and FTIR. It was shown that the addition of GO and GO-APTS enhanced the permeate flux by 52% and 86%, respectively, compared to pure PVDF. The best performing membrane contained 0.3 wt% GO-APTS (with respect to PVDF) and had a flux of 6.2 LMH (L m−2 h−1) whilst maintaining perfect salt rejection (>99.9%). These improvements were attributed to increased surface and bulk porosity, larger mean pore size and hydrophilic interactions owing to the functional groups of GO and GO-APTS. These membranes are evidence of the potential that GO and related materials have as nanocomposite fillers in high performance desalination membranes.

中文翻译：

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用于膜蒸馏的包含 APTS 功能化氧化石墨烯的通量增强型 PVDF 混合基质膜

摘要 气隙膜蒸馏（AGMD）是一种新兴的海水淡化技术，与其他工艺相比，其成本低、热效率高，有望应对全球水资源短缺的挑战。然而，尽管 AGMD 具有潜力，但缺乏合适的膜限制了其商业应用。因此，本研究的重点是通过将用 3-（氨基丙基）三乙氧基硅烷（APTS）功能化的氧化石墨烯掺入 PVDF 聚合物溶液中来制造用于净化人工海水的高通量、坚固的膜。XPS 和 FTIR 证实了 GO 与 APTS 的成功功能化。结果表明，与纯 PVDF 相比，GO 和 GO-APTS 的添加分别使渗透通量提高了 52% 和 86%。性能最好的膜含有 0。3 wt% GO-APTS（相对于 PVDF），通量为 6.2 LMH（L m-2 h-1），同时保持完美的脱盐率（> 99.9%）。由于 GO 和 GO-APTS 的官能团，这些改进归因于增加的表面和体积孔隙率、更大的平均孔径和亲水相互作用。这些膜证明了 GO 和相关材料在高性能海水淡化膜中作为纳米复合填料的潜力。