Habib Etemadi

Chitosan grafted on graphene oxide (CS/GO) composite was synthesized to incorporate in polycarbonate (PC) membrane to improve its antifouling and arsenate (AsV) removal capabilities. The FTIR analysis and zeta potential measurement confrmed fne amine groups of CS on GO sheets and their presence in the fabricated membranes. The infuence of diferent content of CS/GO composite on the structural properties, AsV removal efciency and fouling resistance characteristics of the membranes were explored. The results indicated that the porosity, water uptake, mechanical properties and hydrophilicity of the membranes are enhanced with an increase of CS/GO concentration up to 1.5 wt%. Moreover, the results showed that the pure water fux (PWF) was 45 L m–2 h−1 for neat PC membrane while it was signifcantly increased for the modifed membranes except for 2.0 wt% CS/GO and the best case reached to 111 L m–2 h−1 for PC-CS/GO-1.5 membrane. The AsV rejection by modifed membranes increased from 75.1% (PC-CS/GO-0.5) to 100% (PC-CS/GO-1.0). The rejection of humic acid (HA) in solution of HA-As mixing slightly decreased, however AsV rejection improved in this solution. Fouling resistance of the membranes assessed by 10 ppm HA solution fltration revealed that 1.5 wt% CS/GO membrane has the best antifouling property