Inkjet printing of graphene oxide and dopamine on nanofiltration membranes for improved anti-fouling properties and chlorine resistance

Abstract Anti-fouling properties and chlorine resistance nature are highly desirable features for membranes used in nanofiltration (NF). Conventional polymeric NF membranes often suffer from fouling issues and poor stability under chlorine based chemicals. Therefore, in this work, a thin film composite (TFC) NF membrane was modified by coating a binding agent polydopamine (PDA) and graphene oxide (GO) using a simple and scalable inkjet printing process where the GO deposition was controlled by the number of printing cycles. The NF test results revealed the PDA-GO printed NF membranes exhibited higher salt rejection while achieving slightly lower permeate flux compared to control membrane. Moreover, the PDA-GO printed membrane exhibited enhanced anti-fouling properties where only 20% of permeate flux reduction was observed while the control membrane displayed significant reduction in flux up to 48%. Furthermore, chlorine resistance of the PDA-GO printed membrane showed reduction in salt rejection was effectively suppressed compared to the control membrane for the chlorination time of 1 and 3 h. Our work demonstrates an effective strategy to mitigate fouling and chlorine stability issues in NF membranes as well as validate inkjet printing as a versatile technique for the formation of advanced nanomaterial based membranes with high controllability of membrane properties.