Manipulating Migration Behavior of Magnetic Graphene Oxide via Magnetic Field Induced Casting and Phase Separation toward High-Performance Hybrid Ultrafiltration Membranes

Hybrid membranes blended with nanomaterials such as graphene oxide (GO) have great opportunities in water applications due to their multiple functionalities, but they suffer from low modification efficiency of nanomaterials due to the fact that plenty of the nanomaterials are embedded within the polymer matrix during the blending process. Herein, a novel Fe3O4/GO-poly(vinylidene fluoride) (Fe3O4/GO-PVDF) hybrid ultrafiltration membrane was developed via the combination of magnetic field induced casting and a phase inversion technique, during which the Fe3O4/GO nanocomposites could migrate toward the membrane top surface due to magnetic attraction and thereby render the surface highly hydrophilic with robust resistance to fouling. The blended Fe3O4/GO nanocomposites migrated to the membrane surface with the magnetic field induced casting, as verified by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, elemental analysis, and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. As a result, the novel membranes exhibited significantly improved hydrophilicity (with a contact angle of 55.0°) and water flux (up to 595.39 L m(-2) h(-1)), which were improved by 26% and 206%, 12% and 49%, 25% and 154%, and 11% and 33% compared with those of pristine PVDF membranes and PVDF hybrid membranes blended with GO, Fe3O4, and Fe3O4/GO without the assistance of magnetic field during membrane casting, respectively. Besides, the novel membranes showed high rejection of bovine serum albumin (>92%) and high flux recovery ratio (up to 86.4%). Therefore, this study presents a novel strategy for developing high-performance hybrid membranes via manipulating the migration of nanomaterials to the membrane surface rather than embedding them in the membrane matrix.