Novel antibifouling nanofiltration polyethersulfone membrane fabricated from embedding TiO 2 coated multiwalled carbon nanotubes

Vahid Vatanpour, Sayed Siavash Madaeni*, Rostam Moradian, Sirus Zinadini, Bandar Astinchap

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

477 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) coated by anatase titanium dioxide (TiO 2) nanoparticles were synthesized via the precipitation of TiCl 4 precursor on the acid oxidized MWCNTs and used in preparation of nanocomposite polyethersulfone (PES) membranes. In this work, the effect of embedding TiO 2 coated MWCNTs in PES matrix on membrane morphology, properties and antibiofouling was presented and the obtained results were compared with the prepared oxidized MWCNTs and TiO 2 blended PES membranes. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analyses showed that the formed TiO 2 on the surface of MWCNTs had anatase nanostructure with size in the range of 10-20 nm. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images displayed a finger-like and porous structure for all NF membranes and showed that agglomeration of TiO 2 coated MWCNTs is very low. Contact angle measurements indicated that coating of TiO 2 nanoparticles on the surface of oxidized MWCNTs improved the hydrophilicity of the obtained membranes. The pure water flux of the blend membranes increased with the content of TiO 2 coated MWCNTs. Fouling resistances of membranes evaluated by whey solution filtration revealed that 0.1 wt.% TiO 2 coated MWCNTs membrane had the best antibiofouling properties due to its lowest surface roughness and synergistic photocatalytic activity induced by incorporated nanoparticles.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)69-82
Number of pages14
JournalSeparation and Purification Technology
Volume90
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 27 Apr 2012
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Antibiofouling
  • Functionalized MWCNTs
  • Mixed matrix membranes
  • Photocatalytic activity
  • Roughness

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