Fabrication of a Novel Antifouling Polysulfone Membrane with in Situ Embedment of Mxene Nanosheets

Abstract

Membrane fouling is still a critical issue for the application of ultrafiltration, which has been widely used in water treatment due to its efficiency and simplicity. In order to improve the antifouling property, a new 2D material MXene was used to fabricate composite ultrafiltration membrane with the approach of in situ embedment during the phase inversion process in this study. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), water contact angle, bovine serum albumin rejection and porosity measurements were utilized to characterize the prepared membranes. Due to the hydrophilicity of the MXene, the composite membranes obtained higher hydrophilicity, confirmed by the decreased water contact angle. All the modified membranes had a high bovine serum albumin rejection above 90% while that of the pristine polysulfone membrane was 77.48%. The flux recovery ratio and the reversible fouling ratio of the membranes were also improved along with the increasing content of the MXene. Furthermore, the highest flux recovery ratio could also reach 76.1%. These indicated the good antifouling properties of MXene composite membranes. The enhanced water permeability and protein rejection and excellent antifouling properties make MXene a promising material for antifouling membrane modification.

Optimization of a High-Performance Poly(diallyl dimethylammonium chloride)-alumina-perfluorooctanoate Intercalated Ultrafiltration Membrane for Treating Emulsified Oily Wastewater via Response Surface Methodology Approach

“…A cross-flow ultrafiltration test was performed under the same pressure; the permeate was collected at every 20 min for 2 h, a steady flux, J p (L/m 2 •h) for the foulant was obtained over a period of 2 h. After the 2 h filtration process, the membrane was cleaned with RO water and another pure water flux, J w,2 (L/m 2 •h) was conducted for 2 h at 2 bars as the recovery flux. The recovery flux percentage (RFP), reversible fouling (RF) resistance percentage, and irreversible fouling (IF) resistance percentage were defined using Equations ( 6)-( 8), whereas, the total fouling (TF) resistance was used to determine the degree of total flux loss caused during fouling process of the PAP-BM membrane, using the following equations: Shen et al [51]; Vatanpour et al [52]. However, higher RFP indicates a better antifouling property of the membranes.…”

Blended Polysulfone/Polyethersulfone (PSF/PES) Membrane with Enhanced Antifouling Property for Separation of Succinate from Organic Acids from Fermentation Broth

“…The results in Table indicate that the pure PES membrane has a higher water content of 62.42%, compared to pure PSF having 58.44% water content. However, blending of PES and PSF increased the membrane water content as could be observed with 25% PSF/75% PES membrane with 63.50% water content. This is also evident with the 50% PSF/50% PES which has the highest EWC of 75.17% and a porosity of 60.08% among the membranes with no PVA coat.…”

Two-Dimensional Transition Metal Carbides and Nitrides (MXenes) for Water Purification and Antibacterial Applications

“…Therefore, researchers focus on introducing novel materials to enhance the antifouling property of the membrane to save energy and the operational cost. Recently, MXene-based membranes have been widely used for wastewater treatment, water purification, and desalination applications, as shown in Table 1 [71][72][73][74][75][76][77][78][79][80][81][82]. Initial work by Gogotsi et al [63] demonstrated 2D MXene-based membranes with PVDF supported particular ion separations; for instance, Mg 2+ , Ca 2+ , Li + , Al 3+ , Ni 2+ , Na + , and K + .…”