2025 AIChE Annual Meeting

(400av) Electrospun Nanofiber-Supported Composite Membrane with GO Interlayer for Selective Water Vapor Separation

Authors

Minbeom Kim, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST)
Hyunseo Kim, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST)
Heechul Choi, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST)
Water vapor plays a critical role in both environmental sustainability and human life, offering promising pathways to address water scarcity and climate change. By capturing and converting water vapor from flue gases, separation technologies can simultaneously reduce atmospheric emissions and recover usable water. Among these, membrane-based separation stands out for its energy efficiency, compact design, and operational simplicity.

In this study, we present a novel electrospun nanofiber-supported thin-film composite (eTFC) membrane engineered for efficient water vapor/N₂ separation. The membrane structure incorporates a graphene oxide (GO) interlayer between the porous polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofiber substrate and the polyamide selective layer formed via interfacial polymerization of trimesoyl chloride and piperazine.

The nanofibrous substrate offers high porosity and surface area, yet challenges remain in forming a uniform and stable selective layer due to potential polymer intrusion into the substrate pores. Introducing a dense GO interlayer addresses this issue by serving both as a barrier layer and a hydrophilic transport channel, enabling the formation of a defect-free, ultrathin selective layer while enhancing water permeability.

To overcome limitations associated with conventional GO deposition methods such as vacuum filtration, we are developing an electrospray coating approach and exploring the use of graphene oxide quantum dots (GQDs) for scalable fabrication. The resulting eTFC membranes demonstrated significantly improved water vapor permeance and selectivity under varying water activity conditions when compared to commercial membranes of similar pore sizes.

The enhanced performance is attributed to the synergistic interaction between the GO interlayer and the nanofiber support, which collectively optimize water transport pathways and membrane morphology. This work highlights a promising strategy for advancing high-performance membranes in water vapor separation and resource recovery applications.