Fabrication of high flux porphrin-cored with siloxane-poly(amido amine) dendrimer/PVDF composite membrane for oil/water separation and dye degradation

Abstract

The effective separation of oil-water emulsion and the degradation of organic dyes are significant for solving the problem of environmental pollution. In this view, porphrin-cored with siloxane-poly(amido amine) dendrimer(PP-Si-PAMAM) blending PVDF composite membrane (PP-Si-PAMAM/PVDF) was successfully prepared by using simple non-solvent-induced phase inversion method. After introducing PP-Si-PAMAM into PVDF membrane matrix, the porosity, hydrophilicity and mechanical properties of the composite membrane were significantly improved. The resultant membrane exhibits admirable separation performance (above 99.1%) and high permeation flux (830–1471 L∙m−2∙h−1∙bar−1) for a series of oil-water emulsions. After 10 cycles of separation, the separation efficiency of the PP-Si-PAMAM/PVDF membrane is still more than 99%, and it still maintains excellent separation efficiency and permeability after extreme chemical environment treatment. Moreover, PP-Si-PAMAM/PVDF membrane has excellent degradation effect on organic dyes RhB and MB under visible light, and the degradation efficiency reaches 88% and 90% respectively in a short time. This work has huge potential applications in wastewater treatment with its combined advantages of oil-water emulsion separation and catalytic degradation of organic dye contaminants.