Photodegradation of textile pollutants by nanocomposite membranes of polyvinylidene fluoride integrated with polyaniline–titanium dioxide nanotubes

Abstract

In this research article, the PVDF (polyvinylidene fluoride)-PANI (polyaniline)-titanium nanotube (TNT) based nanocomposite membranes were synthesised through phase inversion method. The composition and structural properties of nanocomposite membranes were characterised by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Fouriertransform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The significant properties of synthesised membranes such as distribution of pore size, thermal properties, mechanical properties, and photocatalytic behaviour of membranes were also studied. The hydrophilic properties of the composite membranes increased with filler content (PANI-TNT) and results in improved pure water flux (484.8 ± 2.9 L/m 2 h −1 ) compared to that (312.0 ± 1.91 L/m 2 h −1 ) of the pure PVDF membrane. The pure PVDF and nanocomposite membrane were further analysed in terms of their filtration properties such as adsorption of dyes (methyl orange, Allura red) and UV self-cleaning properties. The newly developed nanocomposite membranes showed excellent pollutant removal efficiency (~90%). The synthesised nanocomposite membranes also showed photocatalytic activities due to the presence of TNTs, and adsorption of methyl orange (MO) reduces significantly with the UV light irradiations. The UV self-cleaning property of the composite membrane was further confirmed due to their high flux recovery ratio of about 94%. The results show that embedded PANI-TNT within nanocomposite was photo-catalytically active and degrade the dye molecules from the surface of the nano composite membrane.

Enhanced photocatalytic and antimicrobial performance of a multifunctional Cu-loaded nanocomposite under UV light: theoretical and experimental study

“…Consequently, a few photons can reach and stimulate redox reactions over the surface of the photocatalyst, thus leading to a reduction in the degradation efficiency. 34 In addition, after a specific time the vacant sites of the CNFST/Cu photocatalyst become saturated with the adsorbed pNA molecules. Moreover, repulsive forces occur between pNA and the CNFST/Cu photocatalyst, which lead to the negligible degradation of pNA.…”

Factors influencing the photodegradation of acid orange 8 by nitrocellulose membranes

“…In addition, the larger specific surface area increased the production of hydroxyl radicals, improved the photocatalytic activity, and promoted the effective degradation of acid orange 8 (Cui Y. et al, 2021). As the membrane area was increased, the photodegradation rate also increased rapidly (Nawaz et al, 2021). believed that the porosity of the NCM surface, its hydrophilicity, and the degradation rate of organic pollutants decreased with the decrease of the membrane area.…”

“…The photodegradation efficiency of acid orange 8 was highest at the membrane area of 17.35 cm 2 , and its photodegradation rate constant was 0.43 × 10 -3 min −1 . The surface of the NCM was a uniformly distributed porous structure, increasing the membrane area of NCM increased its hydrophilicity (Niu et al, 2010;Nawaz et al, 2021), which promoted the organic wastewater by NCM. The high porosity of NCM increased the specific surface area and the absorption rate of light was enhanced (Li J. et al, 2019).…”

Emerging Materials to Prepare Mixed Matrix Membranes for Pollutant Removal in Water

“…These features of MMMs will offer the prospect of success in pragmatic trials in pollutant removal using MMMs. Indeed, a number of applications of MMMs prepared with several kinds of fillers have been implemented to remove heavy metals, dye molecules, humic acid, organic compounds, nitrates, ammonia, and so on [20,24,[28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35]. Specific cases and detailed mechanisms underlying pollutant removal using MMMs are discussed throughout this section.…”