Ultrafiltration (UF) has long been a leading separation technology with a strong historical track record for a wide range of applications such as the treatment of ground water, surface water and wastewater. The utilization of nanofillers in the fabrication of organic UF membranes has brought about breakthrough progress in membrane science and technology. The present study demonstrates modification of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membranes using zinc oxide (ZnO), polydopamine (PDA), and ZnO/PDA powders by blending and coating methods, respectively. ZnO/PDA nanoparticles were synthesized by the sol-gel method and were characterized using X-Ray Diffraction in comparison to ZnO and dopamine (DA) powders. Filtration performance of the fabricated membranes were determined in terms of water flux, sodium alginate (SA) rejection, and anti-fouling properties. Moreover, lead (Pb +2 ) ions were chelated with chitosan following rejection of the formed lead-chitosan complexes from the fabricated membranes. Although water flux and SA rejections of the pristine PVDF membrane in the presence of different powders could not be substantially improved, antifouling properties could be enhanced markedly. PVDF/ZnO/PDA membrane was found to exhibit the best separation performance with 92% flux recovery ratio and 97% SA rejection and had the highest lead-chitosan removal of 88.5% from aqueous solutions. The enhanced separation performance of the PVDF/ZnO/PDA membrane was revealed by SEM images, which demonstrated remarkable morphological changes such as more porous, longer and interconnected fingerlike formations compared with the pristine PVDF membrane.
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