Porous Gelatin Membrane Obtained from Pickering Emulsions\nStabilized by Graphene Oxide

Abstract

This\narticle presents a novel procedure for preparing porous membranes\nfrom water-soluble polymers involving the formation of a Pickering\nemulsion. Gelatin is a biodegradable biopolymer obtained by the partial\nhydrolysis of collagen. A biopolymer such as gelatin is capable of\nadsorbing at an oil/water interface, resulting in decreased interfacial\nenergy. Hence, gelatin is widely employed as an alternate for synthetic\nsurfactants to stabilize emulsions in the food industry. However,\nhigh-molecular-weight gelatin leads to large emulsion droplets and\npoor emulsion stability. The amphoteric nature of graphene oxide (GO)\nnanosheets was helpful in stabilizing the oil/water interface and\nallows for the preparation of a stable gelatin/GO emulsion. Membranes\nfabricated using gelatin/GO have a uniformly distributed porous structure.\nHowever, prepared membranes are highly hydrosoluble, so the membranes\nwere cross-linked without affecting their morphology. XRD results\nevidenced that gelatin effectively exfoliated the graphite oxide which\nis essential to stabilizing the emulsion. Fabricated gelatin/GO membranes\npossess uniformly distributed pores and are highly stable in aqueous\nsolution. Pure water filtration tests were conducted on the membranes.\nThe permeability results proved that the membranes fabricated by a\nPickering emulsion are promising materials for filtration.