▎ 摘　　要

The present work examines, for the first time, the use of thiolated graphene oxide (TGO), in polyelectrolyte composite membranes as an effective approach to enhance the MFC performance. A new composite membrane based on a sulfonated polyethersulfone (SPES) hybrid with GO, sulfonated GO (SGO), and TGO was fabricated and assessed in MFC. The blend membranes were characterized with various techniques. The sulfhydryl (-SH) and sulfonic (-SO3H) groups enhanced the proton selectivity of the membrane and MFC performance. The MFC using the SPES/SGO1.8% composite membrane generated a power density of 66.4 mW/m(2) which was double that produced by MFC using Nafion117 membrane in batch mode which lasted for 8 days. The SPES/SGO membrane was more selective towards H+ rather than other cations (K+, Na+, and Li+). This was also confirmed by the results of proton conductivity analysis, as the SPES/SGO1.8% membranes showed a value of 1.42 mS/cm which was higher than Nafion117 (1.3 mS/cm), SPES/TGO1.8% (1.25 mS/cm), SPES/GO1.8% (0.56 mS/cm), and SPES (0.32 mS/cm). The higher COD removal and coulombic efficiency were obtained in MFC with SPES/SGO membranes. In conclusion, it is our view that the new SPES/SGO and SPES/TGO membranes can be applied favorably in dual-chamber MFCs meeting their needs. (C) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.