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Updated: Feb 5, 2026

Scalable Syntheses of Graphene Oxide and Reduced Graphene Oxide using Cascade Design Oxidation and Highly Basic Reduction Reactions
Published on: July 3, 2025
Photothermally Active Reduced Graphene Oxide/Bacterial Nanocellulose Composites as Biofouling-Resistant
Qisheng Jiang1, Deoukchen Ghim2, Sisi Cao1
1Institute of Materials Science and Engineering and Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science , Washington University in St. Louis , St. Louis , Missouri 63130 , United States.
Abstract:
Biofouling poses one of the most serious challenges to membrane technologies by severely decreasing water flux and driving up operational costs. Here, we introduce a novel anti-biofouling ultrafiltration membrane based on reduced graphene oxide (RGO) and bacterial nanocellulose (BNC), which incoporates GO flakes into BNC in situ during its growth. In contrast to previously reported GO-based membranes for water treatment, the RGO/BNC membrane exhibited excellent aqueous stability under environmentally relevant pH conditions, vigorous mechanical agitation/sonication, and even high pressure. Importantly, due to its excellent photothermal property, under light illumination, the membrane exhibited effective bactericidal activity, obviating the need for any treatment of the feedwater or external energy. The novel design and in situ incorporation of the membranes developed in this study present a proof-of-concept for realizing new, highly efficient, and environmental-friendly anti-biofouling membranes for water purification.
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