Efficient decolorization performance of graphene quantum dots modulated nanofiltration membranes with tunable pore size for precise molecular sieving

The discharge of wastewater containing dyes not only causes serious environmental pollution but also poses a severe threat to human health. The selective separation of dyes and reuse of inorganic salts are vital in the textile industry. In this work, nitrogen-doped graphene quantum dots (N-GQDs) was successfully synthesized via the “one-step solvothermal method”, and the N-GQDs composite membranes were innovatively fabricated by constructing a thin selective layer top the modified multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) matrix membrane via interfacial polymerization process. The pore size of the N-GQDs membranes could be flexibly modulated by regulating the contents of the N-GQDs. The suitable N-GQDs membrane (M4, 0.35 wt% of N-GQDs) possessed over 96 % rejection rate for diverse charged dyes, which was higher than that of the piperazine polyamide (PA3) membrane. Notably, the rejection of the smaller molecular weight of Methylene Blue by the M4 membrane reached ~98.93 %, which was higher than that reported in most literature, mainly owing to the relatively smaller average pore size and stronger electronegativity of the membrane. Especially compared with our previous work, the prepared M3 and M4 membranes exhibited an enhancement of ~37.79 % and 39.48 % in rejection of Methylene Blue, ~ 78 % and 19 % in pure water permeability, respectively. On account of the size sieving and charge effect, the N-GQDs membrane (M4) could maintain high rejection for dyes and exhibited efficient separation for dye/salt with a separation factor of 115 for the Congo Red/sodium chloride mixture after continuous cross-flow filtration for 24 h in the simulated wastewater condition. Furthermore, the N-GQDs membrane also exhibited favorable acid-base resistance and satisfactory anti-fouling performance. Importantly, the N-GQDs membranes presented excellent decolorization efficiency for the practical textile wastewater. These results revealed that the as-prepared N-GQDs membrane possessed great potential for actual textile wastewater advanced treatment and purification. This study also offers a new candidate to rationally manipulate the separation properties of nanofiltration membranes adopting new aqueous monomers.