(10h) Nitrogen-Doped Graphene Oxide Quantum Dot Membranes for CO2 Capture

Graphene oxide quantum dots (GOQDs) as one of the novel zero-dimensional (0D) materials have been widely used in many fields such as biosensor, photoluminescence imaging, catalysis, and photovoltaics. To act as the building blocks on thin coating separation membranes, GOQDs are regarded as “impossible” material due to its sub-10 nm size, resulting in infiltration through most micro- or ultra-filtration substrates. Here we firstly propose a smart strategy by depositing an ultrathin (50 nm) single-walled carbon nanotube layer as a carbon-based mask skeleton matrix with shrunk pore size, and then filling sub-10 nm nitrogen-doped GOQDs (N-GOQDs) into the carbon nanotube framework to form a highly-porous membrane layer. The N-GOQD membranes were prepared on both hollow fiber and flat sheet ultrafiltration substrates and characterized with SEM, XPS and FTIR to analyse the membrane structure and chemical composition. Carbon capture as a gas separation example was evaluated to demonstrate the separation potential of GOQD-based membranes. This new membrane material associated with the facile strategy to form ultrathin quantum dot film could significantly expand the separation membrane technology field.