Self-assembly modification of polyamide membrane by coating titanium dioxide nanoparticles for water treatment applications

Abstract

This study modified the surface of a commercial polyamide membrane with the deposition of TiO2 nanoparticles by the self-assembly method under pressure with high permeability and photocatalytic activity. Changes in membrane characteristics and its performance for photocatalytic properties were evaluated. The results indicated that both membrane hydrophilicity and photocatalytic performance were significantly improved by the presence of TiO2 nanoparticles applied under a pressure of 1 bar. The deposition of the TiO2 particles under pressure was able to maintain the particles on the surface of the membranes and their photocatalytic capacity for three cycles of use. The prepared TiO2 photocatalytic membrane presented a great potential for wastewater treatment and for reuse wastewater systems due its ability to remove methylene blue (MB) dye solution by photocatalytic decomposition and physical separation.

Sustainable Membranes and its Applications

“…In both chemical and physical functionalization, the use of nanomaterials is a widely used alternative in the membrane separation process. The nanomaterials possess as their main characteristics the high surface area that favors the adsorption, unique surface chemistry, and the photocatalytic, antimicrobial electrical, and optical properties that are desired in the membranes [7,13,21,53,107,147,148]. Several modifying agents are studied for the membrane functionalization and improvements of the anti-fouling properties, such as the metallic silver (Ag) and copper (Cu) nanoparticles, metal oxides (Fe2O3, ZrO2, Al2O3, SiO2, ZnO), in addition to various forms of carbon nanofillers, zeolites, Mg(OH)2, CaCO3, and MnO2 [19,107].…”

Prospects of Synthesized Magnetic TiO2-Based Membranes for Wastewater Treatment: A Review

“…Here, both the separation membrane and the TiO 2 photocatalytic degradation of the organics occurs in a single unit [26]. In addition, photocatalytic membranes generally outperform conventional membranes in terms of reducing membrane fouling and improving permeate quality [85,86]. Even though the reactor configuration covers a broad range, the reactor design should ensure that the catalyst is irradiated uniformly [25].…”

“…[117]. Membranes with desired morphology and properties are prepared using sol-gel, immersion precipitation, vapor-mediated phase separation and immersion precipitation, electrospinning, dip-coating, sintering, track-etching, stretching, templateleaching, and phase-inversion techniques [71,86,87,90,108,112,113]. Aqueous or gaseous routes can also be used to deposit TiO 2 -based catalysts on standardized membranes.…”

“…The mixed solution was held at 20 • C for 30 min before being ultrasonicated to produce a visible TiO 2 sol. Dip-coating was achieved by immersing a substrate membrane in the sol for a set period and then drying the coated membrane [71,86]. Penboon et al [85] made a distinction between TiO 2 -coated membranes and TiO 2 -blended polymer membranes.…”