Enhanced separation properties of polyvinylidene membranes with MnO2 nanowire addition

Abstract

In this study, novel MnO2-PVDF ultrafiltration membranes were prepared by incorporating MnO2 nanowires through the immersion-precipitation phase inversion process. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) were employed to investigate the microstructure of the prepared membranes. The characterization results indicated that the hydrophilicity and smoothness of the membranes increased with increasing MnO2 nanowire content. When the MnO2 nanowires is 1.5 wt%, the MnO2-PVDF nanowire membrane has the best performance, the water flux of the membrane increased from 491.98 L·(m2h)−1 to 657.75 L·(m2h)−1 compared with the pure PVDF membrane. At the same time, the BSA rejection of the membrane reached to 100% and the FRR% increased to 85.37%. Furthermore, the PVDF membrane with 1.5 wt% MnO2 nanowire content exhibited outstanding BSA and oil rejection. This method has potential for the preparation of high flux and good antifouling ultrafiltration membranes.