Metalized Nanocellulose Composites as a Feasible Material for Membrane Supports: Design and Applications for Water Treatment

Abstract

Herein, we study the feasibility of using nanocellulose (NC)-based composites with silver and platinum nanoparticles as additive materials to fabricate the support layer of thin film composite (TFC) membranes for water purification applications. In brief, the NC surface was chemically modified and then was decorated with silver and platinum nanoparticles, respectively, by chemical reduction. These metalized nanocellulose composites (MNC) were characterized by several techniques including: FTIR, XPS, TGA, XRD, and XANES to probe their integrity. Thereafter, we fabricated the MNC-TFC membranes and the support layer was modified to improve the membrane properties. The membranes were thoroughly characterized, and the performance was evaluated in forward osmosis (FO) mode with various feed solutions: nanopure water, urea, and wastewater samples. The fabricated membranes exhibited finger-like pore morphologies and varying pore sizes. Interestingly, higher water fluxes and solute rejection was obtained with the MNC-TFC membranes with wastewater samples. The overall approach of this work provides an effort to fabricated membranes with high water flux and enhanced selectivity.

Enhanced performance of forward osmosis membranes by incorporating PVDF substrates with hydrophilic nanofillers

“…As shown in Fig. 5, the thickness of the substrates is in a range of 74.00 to 95.50μm, which descends at first and then increases as reported in previous work [46]. The improved contents of hydrophilic groups result in a thinner and more porous membrane since hydrophilic polymers could tolerate the higher water content before the phase separation [1].…”

Nanocellulose‐Enabled Membranes for Water Purification: Perspectives

“…Nanocellulose is not only useful for the design and construction of nanofibrous membranes driven by a pressure gradient (MF, UF, NF, and RO), but it is also suitable for those driven by a concentration gradient (Δ C ), as in forward osmosis (FO);108 by a temperature gradient (Δ T ), as in membrane distillation (MD);109 or even by an electric gradient (Δ E ), as in electrolysis 38,110. In the latter cases (FO, MD, and electrolysis), the separation principal is mostly based on size exclusion, where the performance of the membranes is closely related to the pore size, pore size distribution, porosity, tortuosity, and thickness of the barrier layer, which will be discussed later.…”

Nanocellulose: Recent advances and its prospects in environmental remediation

“…In this section, the role of nanocellulose as a fabrication material in the field of membrane technology for environmental remediation will be discussed. Cellulose nanofibers and nanocrystals have been studied as membrane construction materials for wastewater treatment [ 146 ], gas separation [ 147 ], removal of dyes [ 148 ], removal of heavy metals through ion exchange [ 149 ], ultrafiltration [ 14 , 150 ], and adsorption [ 151 ]. The key information related to nanocellulose used in membrane technology for application in environmental remediation is summarized in Table 4 .…”

“…Metalized nanocellulose composites (MNCs) used to construct the support of a forward osmosis membrane for wastewater treatment has been reported by Cruz-Tato et al [ 146 ]. The nanocellulose was modified to incorporate amino silane functionalities before deposition of silver and platinum nanoparticles ( Fig.…”