Fabrication of mixed matrix polyphenylsulfone‐polysulfone blend membranes incorporated with Nickel/Hydrazine@silica core‐shell nanoparticles using VIPS‐NIPS method for efficient dye rejection

Abstract

The dye‐water treatment using nanofiltration membranes is still an important issue. In this work, we have reported the fabrication of silica nanoparticles using a robust approach with well‐controlled aspect ratios. Accordingly, we first fabricated hydrophilic Nickel/Hydrazine@silica core‐shell nanoparticles, in which Ni nanoparticles were coated with a shell of silica. Then, different content of the prepared nanoparticles were incorporated into polyphenylsulfone/ polysulfone membrane matrixes in order to enhance the membranes hydrophilicity. The pristine and mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) were fabricated via the vapor‐induced phase separation coupled with non‐solvent‐induced phase separation (VIPS‐NIPS) approach, where Dioxane was employed as the co‐solvent. The dye rejection performance of the prepared membranes was evaluated for aqueous solutions of a variety of dyes, including direct yellow (DY), crystal violet (CV), methyl green (MG), and methylene blue (MB). Accordingly, it was indicated that the membrane with 0.12 wt.% of nanoparticles could provide an outstanding rejection performance as high as 99.7, 99.3, 98.4 and 97 for DY, MG, CV and MB, respectively, a superb water flux (6.1 L/m2 h bar), a great long‐term durability and an excellent antifouling performance.