Enhanced permeation performance with incorporation of silver nitrate onto polymeric membrane

Abstract

Enhancing membrane permeation is usually an important parameter in the membrane development for filtration. In this study, polysulfone membrane equipped with different concentration of silver nitrate (0.5-2.0 wt%) were fabricated by phase inversion and later be known as composite membrane (CM) followed by letter (A till F) to indicate membrane composition. This study will investigate the effect of silver nitrate concentration to membrane permeation. Membrane morphology was investigated via scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Based on SEM examination, all composite membrane exhibits sponge-like structure otherwise FTIR for composite membrane with silver nitrate (CM B till CM E) shows additional peak at 1149.57 and 1294.24 indicating silver nitrate presence. In permeability test, composite membrane (CM C) with 1.0wt% silver nitrate achieved 22.25 L/m2.h of flux, the highest among all the composite membrane configuration. Thus, the result implied the addition of silver nitrate can increase permeation performance though excessive content may reduce the performance up to 50% of flux reduction. This work provides a better understanding of silver nitrate implication toward membrane permeability therefore provide an insight to any application of silver nitrate in membrane composition.