Antifouling polyvinylidene fluoride ultrafiltration membrane fabricated from embedding polypyrrole coated multiwalled carbon nanotubes

Polypyrrole (PPy) coated raw and oxidized multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) nanocomposites were synthesized and used for hydrophilic modification of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) ultrafiltration membranes. The prepared nanocomposites were characterized using XRD, FTIR and SEM techniques. The hydrophilicity of the fabricated membranes was evaluated using water contact angle measurements, where the mixed matrix membranes presented lower contact angle compared with the bare one. The performance results showed that the pure water flux increased from 152.8 L/m² h (for bare PVDF membrane) to 378.8 and 399.3 L/m² h for 0.1 and 1 wt% of PPy: raw and PPy:ox-MWCNT hybrid membranes, respectively. The results showed an increase in reversible resistance value for all hybrid membranes indicating improved antifouling properties of the prepared membranes in Bovine serum albumin (BSA) filtration. The rejection results revealed that the increase in the surface porosity and mean pore size did not affect the efficiency of the membranes for BSA rejection.