Pristine graphene membranes supported on ceramic hollow fibre prepared via a sacrificial layer assisted CVD approach
File(s)Manuscript_revised.pdf (1.29 MB)
Accepted version
Author(s)
Yunsi, Chi
Chong, Jeng Yi
Wang, Bo
Li, Kang
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Graphene is a 2D ultra-thin material, when being used as membranes, potentially promises high permeation flux and can be operated in extreme conditions attributed to its chemical inertness. Currently, continuous atomic thin graphene membranes can only be made by chemical vapour deposition (CVD) on flat sheet, which limits its process intensification because of the low surface-area-to-volume ratio. To tackle this challenge, we have successfully devised an unprecedented method to fabricate graphene membranes supported on ceramic hollow fibre via a nickel sacrificial layer approach. It starts with coating a continuous dense nickel sacrificial layer on yttrium-stabilised zirconia (YSZ) hollow fibre via electroless plating, followed by synthesis of a continuous graphene layer by CVD. After that, thermal oxygen etching followed by nitric acid leaching were performed to successfully remove the nickel layer, and defect-patching treatment was carried out to eliminate any major defects formed during the leaching process. Herein, a continuous ultra-thin graphene layer sitting on YSZ hollow fibre was obtained. The achieved graphene hollow fibre membrane exhibits a methanol flux of 2.4 LMH (L m−2 h−1) bar−1 and a remarkable 98.8% rose bengal rejection. This study thus demonstrates a step towards successful engineering of pristine graphene membranes on micro-tubular supports.
Date Issued
2020-02
Date Acceptance
2019-09-18
Citation
Journal of Membrane Science, 2020, 595, pp.1-8
ISSN
0376-7388
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Start Page
1
End Page
8
Journal / Book Title
Journal of Membrane Science
Volume
595
Copyright Statement
© 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. This manuscript is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Licence http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Sponsor
Engineering & Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC)
Identifier
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S037673881932229X?via%3Dihub
Grant Number
EP/M022250/1
Subjects
Chemical Engineering
03 Chemical Sciences
09 Engineering
Publication Status
Published online
Article Number
117479
Date Publish Online
2019-09-18