Enhanced Pervaporative Desulfurization Performance of PDMS Membranes by Biomineralization

Inspired by natural biomineralization, high-performance pervaporative desulfurization membranes were engineered through a one-step synthesis strategy. Cysteamine served as both an inducer and catalyst, steering the deposition of silica (SiO 2 ) onto graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets that were pre-dispersed in a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) matrix. The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and x-ray diffraction results demonstrated that in situ-formed SiO 2 was attached firmly onto the GO sheets. The scanning electron microscopy results showed that the GO/SiO 2 fillers were uniformly dispersed in the PDMS matrix. The incorporation of GO/SiO 2 within the lipophilic PDMS matrix markedly enhanced the desulfurization performance of the resultant biomineralized membranes. The fabricated membranes were evaluated for the separation of thiophene from an n -octane/thiophene mixture by pervaporation. It was demonstrated that the membrane displayed high selectivity towards thiophene. The sulfur enrichment factor reached a maximum of 6.30 for the biomineralized membrane containing 0.3 wt% GO, accompanied by a permeation flux of 6973 g m −2 h −1 in a 1312 ppm thiophene/ n -octane mixture at 303 K. The desulfurization performance of the biomineralized membranes maintained practically constant over 168 consecutive hours, displaying long-term stability. This facile one-step strategy offers a readily scalable route to fabricate high-performance pervaporative membranes for deep gasoline desulfurization.