Membrane fouling
has remained a major challenge limiting the wide
application of membrane technology because it reduces the efficiency
and shortens the lifespan of the membrane, thus increasing the operation
cost. Herein we report a novel dual-function nanocomposite membrane
incorporating silver-coated gold nanoparticles (Au@AgNPs) into a sulfosuccinic
acid (SSA) cross-linked poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) membrane for a pervaporation
desalination. Compared with the control PVA membrane and PVA/SSA membrane,
the Au@AgNPs/PVA/SSA membrane demonstrated a higher water flux and
better salt rejection as well as an enhanced antifouling property.
More importantly, Au@AgNPs provided an additional function enabling
a foulant detection on the membrane surface via surface-enhanced Raman
spectroscopy (SERS) as Au@AgNPs could amplify the Raman signals as
an SERS substrate. Distinct SERS spectra given by a fouled membrane
helped to distinguish different protein foulants from their characteristic
fingerprint peaks. Their fouling tendency on the membrane was also
revealed by comparing the SERS intensities of mixed foulants on the
membrane surface. The Au@AgNPs/PVA/SSA nanocomposite membrane presented
here demonstrated the possibility of a multifunction membrane to achieve
both antifouling and fouling detection, which could potentially be
used in water treatment.
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