Journal of the European Ceramic Society | 2021
Robust ceramic nanofibrous membranes with ultra-high water flux and nanoparticle rejection for self-standing ultrafiltration
Abstract
Abstract Ceramic electrospun nanofibrous membranes (ENMs) are ideal candidates for ultrafiltration applications in harsh environments. However, it has been a great challenge to fabricate ceramic ENMs with sufficient strengths to withstand the water pressure duo to their intrinsic brittleness. In this study, we report an ultra-strong Y3Al5O12-Al2O3 ENM employing graphene oxide (GO) as a sacrificing additive for the first time. The optimized membrane exhibits tensile strengths of 5.63 ± 0.31 MPa after sintering at 900 °C and 3.48 ± 0.44 MPa at 1000 °C. The high strength of the membrane ensures it to be used independently under a pressure up to 160 K Pa. An excellent nano-particle filtration performance is achieved with a high permeation flux of 5718–8494 L m−2 h−1 bar−1 and high rejection efficiencies above 99.75 % in both neutral and acidic water conditions. The work demonstrates a facile route for effective strengthening of ceramic ENMs with their great potential in harsh-environment self-standing ultrafiltration applications.