Graphene oxide-modified pressure-driven membranes are attractive due to their enhanced water flux and mechanical properties. However, the large-scale use of membranes such as ultra-filtration (UF) is hindered due to the challenges in bulk production of graphene oxide at an affordable cost. The present work reports the application of ultra-dispersible graphene oxide (UDGO) synthesized through a single-step scalable approach in fabricating UF membranes. Compared to Hummers' graphene oxide, the UDGO is highly dispersible in solvents and is 8–10 times more cost-effective. Various microscopic and macroscopic studies were performed to study the physicochemical properties of UDGO and UDGO-modified UF membranes. The influence of UDGO content on the membrane efficiency and anti-fouling potential was elucidated. The UDGO-modified UF membranes showed ∼18% enhancement in flux and ∼64% increment in protein rejection compared to pristine membranes. The modified membranes also showed a ∼20% greater flux recovery ratio and ∼60% lesser bovine serum albumin adsorption, indicating a better level of anti-fouling potential. The higher biofilm inhibition potential of UDGO with an increase in dead biomass makes it a potential candidate for developing anti-biofouling membranes with enhanced water flux.

中文翻译：

---

可扩展且经济高效的超分散氧化石墨烯混合超滤混合基质膜：机械、水通量和抗生物污染性能评估


氧化石墨烯改性的压力驱动膜因其增强的水通量和机械性能而具有吸引力。然而，由于以可承受的成本大规模生产氧化石墨烯的挑战，超滤 （UF） 等膜的大规模使用受到阻碍。本工作报告了通过单步可扩展方法合成的超分散氧化石墨烯 （UDGO） 在制造 UF 膜中的应用。与悍马的氧化石墨烯相比，UDGO 在溶剂中具有高度分散性，成本效益高出 8-10 倍。进行了各种微观和宏观研究，以研究 UDGO 和 UDGO 修饰的 UF 膜的物理化学性质。阐明了 UDGO 含量对膜效率和防污潜力的影响。与原始膜相比，UDGO 修饰的 UF 膜的通量提高了 ∼18%，蛋白质排斥率增加了 ∼64%。改性膜还显示出 ∼20% 的助焊剂回收率和约 60% 的牛血清白蛋白吸附率，表明具有更好的防污潜力。UDGO 的生物膜抑制潜力更高，死生物量增加，使其成为开发具有增强水通量的抗生物污染膜的潜在候选者。