m sabzekar - Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran
m Pourafshari Chenar - Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

Electrospun nanofiber membranes (ENM) have received increasing interest in membrane distillation (MD)applications due to their unique properties including high hydrophobicity and porosity. On the other hands, they suffer from wetting. In this paper, a synthesized fluorinated graphene oxide (۰.۱ and ۰.۵ wt%) was used to electrospin a dual-layered polyvinylidene fluoride-co hexafluoropropylene (PVDF-HFP) membranes in order to promote the hydrophobicity of the membranes. The prepared membranes were characterized in terms of the thickness (۱۰۰- ۱۴۰ μm), porosity (۸۶-۸۲%), water contact angle (۱۳۷ ° -۱۴۴ ° ), mean pore size (~ ۲ μm), and morphological characteristics. the ENM loaded with ۰.۱ wt% of nanoparticles (NP) showed better hydrophobicity (contact angle of ۱۴۴ ° ), without much change in the other characteristics. The morphological studies confirmed a good adhesion of NPs to fibers and two electrospinning layers. Also, direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) test showed good pure and salt solution flux, ۵۱ kg.m-۲. s-۱ and ۵۰ kg.m-۲. s-۱, respectively, together with a low permeate conductivity (۱.۵ μS.cm-۱). The dual-layered graphene oxide membranes showed a decrease in flux along with a significant drop of permeate conductivity which indicates better salt rejection.

dual-layered membrane, fluorinated graphene oxide, membrane distillation (MD).