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 7°C. 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.