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Updated: Nov 25, 2025

Electrophoretic Crystallization of Ultrathin High-performance Metal-organic Framework Membranes
Published on: August 16, 2018
Alkyl Chain Grafted-Reduced Graphene Oxide Membrane for Effective Separation of Water/Alcohol Miscible Mixtures
Hailong Zhang1, Jianbo Yang1, Ting Li1
1State Key Laboratory of Biobased Material and Green Papermaking, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Qilu University of Technology (Shandong Academy of Sciences), Jinan, China.
Abstract:
Separation of water/alcohol miscible mixtures via direct filtration only under gravity is a great challenge. Here, different alkyl chain grafted-reduced graphene oxide (alkyl-RGO) is synthesized and characterized. The hydrophobic alkyl chains can considerably modify the oil-wettability of the membranes and avoid water permeation. The alkyl-RGO membrane obtained by vacuum filtration can separate water/oil immiscible mixtures. Importantly, water/alcohol miscible mixtures could also be separated solely under gravity, where alcohols efficiently permeate the alkyl-RGO membrane while water is prevented through the membrane. The separation efficiency of C12H-RGO membrane reaches up to about 0.04 vol% of water content for the case of separating an n-propanol/water (90:10 v/v) mixture with high n-propanol permeability of approx. 685 mL m-2 h-1. Molecular simulations indicate that the selective absorption ability and diffusion rate also affect water/alcohol separation. The alkyl-RGO membranes via gravity driven filtration can extend the applications of separation of water/alcohol miscible mixtures.
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