ZIF-8@GO composites incorporated polydimethylsiloxane membrane with prominent separation performance for ethanol recovery

In this study, ZIF-8@GO composites with continuous inner channels for ethanol molecules were prepared by the in-situ growth of zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) nanoparticles onto the surface of graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets, and filled into polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) matrix to fabricate PDMS/ZIF-8@GO mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) for ethanol recovery via pervaporation. The as-prepared ZIF-8@GO composites and PDMS/ZIF-8@GO MMMs were characterized by various techniques. The results showed that ZIF-8 nanoparticles were uniformly dispersed on the surface of GO nanosheets and the hydrophobicity of ZIF-8@GO composites was stronger than GO due to the surface modification of GO by hydrophobic ZIF-8. Moreover, ZIF-8@GO composites as the filler not only exhibited the excellent compatibility with PDMS but also showed the good dispersion in PDMS matrix as compared to ZIF-8 nanoparticles. Therefore, ZIF-8@GO-based MMMs showed better separation performance than ZIF-8-based MMMs. The pervaporation performance of PDMS/ZIF-8@GO MMMs was studied by adjusting the filler type, particle loading, membrane thickness, and feed temperature. The optimized PDMS/ZIF-8@GO MMMs displayed a prominent separation factor of 22.2 with a total flux of 443.8 g/m2 h with 5 wt% ethanol aqueous solution at 40 °C, and therefore the superior pervaporation performance to most other PDMS-based MMMs. The excellent pervaporation results were attributed to the synergistic effect of GO nanosheet as a strong barrier and hydrophobic ZIF-8 nanoparticles with the continuous inner channels. The synergistic effect of hybrid particles may provide valuable guidance to the development of high-performance PDMS-based MMMs for pervaporation recovery of various organic compounds.