Preparation and characterization of polysulfone/ammonia functionalized graphene oxide composite membrane material
The study highlights the first use of ammonia functionalized graphene oxide (GO NH2) as an additive to enhance the features of polysulfone (PSF) matrix. Composite membrane materials with different ratios of GO NH2 (0.25, 0.5, 1, and 1.5 wt% were obtained by phase inversion method. Subsequently structural and morphological characteristics were investigated by Raman spectroscopy, X ray diffraction (XRD) scanning, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) Lastly, mechanical and thermogravimetric studies were performed in order to establish whether GO NH2 addition influenced PSF/GO NH2 composite material performance. Raman spectroscopy, XRD, and TEM revealed evenly dispersed GO NH2 within PSF/GO NH2 composite membrane material forming exfoliated structures for lower concentration of GO NH2. An enhancement in both mechanical and thermal characteristics was attained. The decomposition temperature at which the mass loss is 3% of the composite membrane material with 1 wt% GO NH2 was increased with 7degC. Conversely, an increase in Young's modulus from 246 MPa to 285 MPa was achieved with the addition of 1 wt% GO NH2 within the PSF matrix.