Tailoring the Effects of Titanium Dioxide (TiO2) and Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA) in the Separation and Antifouling Performance of Thin-Film Composite Polyvinylidene Fluoride (PVDF) Membrane

Abstract

In this study, thin-film composite (TFC) polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membranes were synthesized by coating with titanium dioxide (TiO2)/polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) solution by a dip coating method and cross-linked with glutaraldehyde. Glutaraldehyde (GA) acted as a cross-linking agent to improve the thermal and chemical stability of the thin film coating. The incorporation of TiO2 in the film enhanced the hydrophilicity of the membrane and the rejection of dyes during filtration. The layer of TiO2 nanoparticles on the PVDF membranes have mitigated the fouling effects compared to the plain PVDF membrane. The photocatalytic performance was studied at different TiO2 loading for the photodegradation of dyes (reactive blue (RB) and methyl orange (MO)). The results indicated that the thin film coating of TiO2/PVA enhanced photocatalytic performance and showed good reusability under UV irradiation. This study showed that nearly 78% MO and 47% RB were removed using the TFC membrane. This work provides a new vision in the fabrication of TFC polymeric membranes as an efficient wastewater treatment tool.

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

“…In photocatalytic membranes, nanoscale inorganic/organic photocatalysts are embedded in a membrane matrix to improve the properties of the resulting polymer [82,[105][106][107]. Hamed et al [108] eluded that TiO 2 nanoparticles can coordinate with the surface of the polymer membrane and Ti +4 makes ion connections with oxygen atoms of carboxylic groups of polymers or by making H-bonding with carbonyl or hydroxyl groups on the TiO 2 surface.…”

“…When the membranes were modified with diethanolamine (DEA), Hamed et al [108] found that a high concentration of TiO 2 coated on the polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membrane improved pure water flux. Although embedding nanoparticles onto membranes remove unwanted nanoparticles after treatment, the polymer phase material covering the nanoparticles can reduce the active usable surface area [107]. Owing to the blockage of the membrane pores by TiO 2 nanoparticles, the photocatalytic membrane's pure water flux usually decreases as the concentration of TiO 2 in the coating phase rises [58,107,109,111].…”

“…Although embedding nanoparticles onto membranes remove unwanted nanoparticles after treatment, the polymer phase material covering the nanoparticles can reduce the active usable surface area [107]. Owing to the blockage of the membrane pores by TiO 2 nanoparticles, the photocatalytic membrane's pure water flux usually decreases as the concentration of TiO 2 in the coating phase rises [58,107,109,111].…”

“…Polymer membranes are one of the most popular membranes used in wastewater treatment and water purification (Table 4). Polymers reported as support membranes of photocatalysts include polyamide, polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) [23], polyethersulfone (PES), poly (vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) [24], sulfonated polyethersulfone (SPES), poly (vinylidene fluoride) [105][106][107][108], polyurethane (PU) [98], polyethylene terephthalate (PET) [82], polyester [58], polyacrylonitrile (PAN) [43] and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) [109][110][111][112][113][114]. Polymer-inorganic nanoparticle composite membranes can be divided into two groups based on their structure: (a) polymer and inorganic phases linked by covalent bonds, and (b) polymer and inorganic phases linked by van der Waals forces or hydrogen bonds [113].…”

“…The TiO 2 nanoparticles coalesce with the surface of the polymer membrane during the membrane preparation process. Likewise, Ti +4 makes ion connections with oxygen atoms of carboxylic groups of polymers or by making H-bonds with carbonyl or hydroxyl groups on TiO 2 surfaces [107,111].…”