FURI | Spring 2018

Controlling the Selectivity and Permeability of Graphene-based Membrane by Changing the Oxygen Content of Graphene Oxide Sheets

The purpose of this research was to analyze the relationship between oxygen content of graphene oxide and the efficiency of the material when used for the fabrication of desalination membranes. Graphene oxide is synthesized from pure graphene through four different methods: Staudenmaier’s, Hoffman’s, Tour’s, and Tung’s, which results in graphene oxide with different properties and structures that could impact membrane performance. The permeability and rejection of the graphene membrane is found to be dependent on the ratio of carbon to oxygen groups. Future research should focus on studying how reduction impacts performance of these various forms of graphene oxide.