An Investigation Into the Influence of Titania–Carbon Nanotube Nanophotocatalysts Into the Filtration Performance of Polyethersulfone-Based Membranes
Sithembela A. Zikalala
Institute for Nanotechnology and Water Sustainability, College of Science, Engineering and Technology, University of South Africa, Johannesburg, South Africa
Contribution: Conceptualization (equal), Data curation (lead), Formal analysis (lead), Methodology (lead), Writing - original draft (lead), Writing - review & editing (lead)
Search for more papers by this authorOranso T. Mahlangu
Institute for Nanotechnology and Water Sustainability, College of Science, Engineering and Technology, University of South Africa, Johannesburg, South Africa
Contribution: Data curation (equal), Formal analysis (equal), Investigation (equal), Methodology (supporting), Writing - review & editing (equal)
Search for more papers by this authorJianxin Li
Institute for Nanotechnology and Water Sustainability, College of Science, Engineering and Technology, University of South Africa, Johannesburg, South Africa
State Key Laboratory of Separation Membranes and Membrane Processes, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tiangong University, Tianjin, China
Contribution: Conceptualization (equal), Resources (equal), Supervision (supporting), Writing - review & editing (equal)
Search for more papers by this authorBhekie B. Mamba
Institute for Nanotechnology and Water Sustainability, College of Science, Engineering and Technology, University of South Africa, Johannesburg, South Africa
State Key Laboratory of Separation Membranes and Membrane Processes, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tiangong University, Tianjin, China
Contribution: Project administration (equal), Resources (lead), Supervision (supporting), Writing - review & editing (supporting)
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Edward N. Nxumalo
Institute for Nanotechnology and Water Sustainability, College of Science, Engineering and Technology, University of South Africa, Johannesburg, South Africa
Correspondence:
Edward N. Nxumalo ([email protected])
Contribution: Conceptualization (equal), Data curation (supporting), Project administration (lead), Supervision (equal), Writing - review & editing (equal)
Search for more papers by this authorSithembela A. Zikalala
Institute for Nanotechnology and Water Sustainability, College of Science, Engineering and Technology, University of South Africa, Johannesburg, South Africa
Contribution: Conceptualization (equal), Data curation (lead), Formal analysis (lead), Methodology (lead), Writing - original draft (lead), Writing - review & editing (lead)
Search for more papers by this authorOranso T. Mahlangu
Institute for Nanotechnology and Water Sustainability, College of Science, Engineering and Technology, University of South Africa, Johannesburg, South Africa
Contribution: Data curation (equal), Formal analysis (equal), Investigation (equal), Methodology (supporting), Writing - review & editing (equal)
Search for more papers by this authorJianxin Li
Institute for Nanotechnology and Water Sustainability, College of Science, Engineering and Technology, University of South Africa, Johannesburg, South Africa
State Key Laboratory of Separation Membranes and Membrane Processes, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tiangong University, Tianjin, China
Contribution: Conceptualization (equal), Resources (equal), Supervision (supporting), Writing - review & editing (equal)
Search for more papers by this authorBhekie B. Mamba
Institute for Nanotechnology and Water Sustainability, College of Science, Engineering and Technology, University of South Africa, Johannesburg, South Africa
State Key Laboratory of Separation Membranes and Membrane Processes, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tiangong University, Tianjin, China
Contribution: Project administration (equal), Resources (lead), Supervision (supporting), Writing - review & editing (supporting)
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Edward N. Nxumalo
Institute for Nanotechnology and Water Sustainability, College of Science, Engineering and Technology, University of South Africa, Johannesburg, South Africa
Correspondence:
Edward N. Nxumalo ([email protected])
Contribution: Conceptualization (equal), Data curation (supporting), Project administration (lead), Supervision (equal), Writing - review & editing (equal)
Search for more papers by this authorFunding: The authors thankfully acknowledge the SASOL/NRF collaborative grant (Grant number: UID 138625) and the UNISA/Technology Innovation Agency (TIA) Seed Funding Grant for funding support.
ABSTRACT
The polyethersulfone/sulfonated polyethersulfone (PES/SPSf) blend is enriched with ionizable sulfonic acid groups rendering a stable polymer system suited for blending nanocomposites using water as a dispersant. PES/SPSf/TiO2-amorphous carbon nanotubes (aCNT) mixed matrix membranes are prepared via addition of a TiO2–aCNT/deionized water slurry and precipitated via non-solvent induced phase separation. Membranes' electrostatic and non-electrostatic interactions with charged organic pollutants and membrane–dye interactions are probed using the Liftshitz-acid–base approach. Fluid transport and solute rejection mechanisms are investigated through porosity, pore radius, flux, permeance, dye rejection and fouling propensity. PES/SPSf/TiO2–aCNT membrane contact angle at 1.6 wt.% TiO2–aCNT loading reached 35° accompanied by pore radius decrease and a decline in membrane pure water permeability (197.7 for MF0 to 48.5 L.m−2.h−1 for MF1.6). Membranes had good rejection for cationic azure B (≈90%) and zwitterionic rhodamine B (≈100%) compared to anionic charged methyl orange (MO) (2.0%–10.8%). Major dye removal mechanism was size exclusion, where reactive red 120 (1335.9 g/mol) retention was higher than that of MO (327.4 g/mol). TiO2–aCNT loading imputes membranes additional cationic charge and electron donor components that enables solute transportation via electrostatic switching mechanism and charge-dependent antifouling for reactive dyes, which are the bulk of textile industry pollution.
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
Open Research
Data Availability Statement
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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