Sandwich membranes based on PVDF-g-4VP and surface modified graphene oxide for Cu(II) adsorption

UV photo-preactivation/thermally-induced grafting was employed for grafting 4-vinylpyridine (4-VP) on polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), and graphene oxide (GO) was modified with 4'-carboxy-2,2':6',2"-terpyridine (CTPy). Then sandwich PVDF-g-4VP/GO-CTPy/polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) membrane was fabricated for adsorption of Cu (II) as a model. The membrane formation, static adsorption thermodynamics, kinetics and dynamic adsorption/desorption were studied. The results showed that, the addition of polyethylene glycol (PEG 4000) as porogen can significantly increase the porosity and adsorption capacity of the membranes. The adsorption could be well described by the Langmuir model and pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The breakthrough volume and saturated volume increased with rising GO-CTPy contents. The adsorption capacity of sandwich membranes was much higher than that of mixed matrix membranes. The sandwich membrane also exhibited excellent reusability in dynamic adsorption/desorption cycles, demonstrating great potential in adsorption of trace Cu (II).