Development of novel SiO2–GO nanohybrid/polysulfone membrane with enhanced performance

Polysulfone (PSf)-based hybrid membranes are developed by doping with SiO 2 –GO nanohybrid . The hybrid membranes exhibit improved water permeability with the rejection to egg albumin maintained at a high level (>98%). Especially, when the content of SiO 2 –GO in the membrane is 0.3   wt%, the water flux reaches a maximum that is nearly twice of that of PSf membrane. Compared with SiO 2 /PSf and GO/PSf hybrid membranes, SiO 2 –GO/PSf hybrid membrane presents the best overall properties, including water permeation rate , protein rejection, and antifouling ability. It can be attributed to the unique property of SiO 2 –GO nanohybrid , i.e., the high hydrophilicity and good dispersibility derived from silica nanoparticles which are densely and uniformly coated on the GO surface and perform as a space layer of GO .