Abstract
In this work, bare and Ag-ZnO nanocomposite incorporated Polysulfone (PSF)/Polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) membranes were fabricated by phase inversion method. Different concentrations of Ag-ZnO nanocomposites (0.5 wt%, 1 wt% and 2 wt%) were incorporated into PSF/PVP blend to enhance the performances of the membranes in terms of water permeability, antimicrobial activity and sulphate rejection. FE-SEM images show that the addition of Ag-ZnO into membrane caused significant changes in porous morphologies. The AFM images revealed that the surface roughness was increased by Ag-ZnO incorporation. Further, the membranes were characterised by contact angle measurement, tensile test measurement and TGA analysis. These results proved that the Ag-ZnO incorporated membranes were more hydrophilicity, enhanced mechanical and thermal properties compared to that of bare membrane. It has been assessed that 1 wt% Ag-ZnO incorporated membrane showed better performance as it possess high hydrophilic nature, salt removal capability and antimicrobial activity though 2 wt% Ag-ZnO membrane showed high water permeability.
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