4. Conclusions
In conclusion, we reported a versatile approach to prepare the
highly-permeable GO membranes for fast molecule separation using the
templates of Ni(OH)2 nanosheets. The
Ni(OH)2@GO composite nanosheets were prepared facilely
by mixing GO nanosheets and Ni(OH)2 nanosheets. The
membranes were fabricated by directly filtering the composite nanosheets
over the porous supports, followed by reduction and acid dissolution for
Ni(OH)2 removal. The resulting NST-GO membranes have
traditional laminar structure with the increased d -spacing of
about 1.14 nm, which means water channels are broadened. Meanwhile, the
hydrophilicity of the membranes is preserved largely because the
intercalators protect most areas on the GO from reduction. Therefore,
the 880 nm-thick NST-GO shows the water permeance of high to 120.3 L
m−2 h−1 bar−1 with
a sufficient DY rejection of 87.9%. Moreover, the as-prepared membranes
have the good size selectivity in the separation of organic dyes. The
newly developed strategy of intercalating and sacrificing hydroxide
nanosheets shows a great potential in controlling d -spacing of
laminar GO membranes.