Nanoscale silica-coated graphene oxide and its demulsifying performance in water-in-oil and oil-in-water emulsions

In current work, GO@SiO 2 nanocomposite was prepared by coating nanoscale silica onto graphene oxide (GO). GO@SiO 2 was characterized with scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (IF-IR). Additionally, the demulsifying performance of GO@SiO 2 was investigated by bottle test. The results showed that GO@SiO 2 had a good demulsifying performance in both oil-in-water (O/W) and water-in-oil (W/O) emulsions. When the concentration of GO@SiO 2 was 200 ppm in the O/W emulsion, the optimal light transmittance of aqueous phase (LTA) and corresponding oil removal rate (ORR) at room temperature could reach 86.9% and 99.48%, respectively. Also, GO@SiO 2 had an excellent salt tolerance under acidic condition. Furthermore, GO@SiO 2 also could demulsify the W/O emulsion, and the efficiency at 70 °C could reach 80.5% when the concentration was 400 ppm.