Increasing the hydrophilicity and antifouling properties of polyvinylidene fluoride membranes by doping novel nano-hybrid ZnO@ZIF-8 nanoparticles for 4-nitrophenol degradation

Abstract

ZIF-8 modification can reduce aggregation of ZnO (a typical photocatalyst), and enhances antifouling property of PVDF membranes. In this study, we developed a novel membrane by adding ZnO@ZIF-8 nanoparticles into polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) substrates by using non-solvent induced phase separation (NIPS) method. Filtration test with bovine serum albumin (BSA) showed that the modified membrane has good pure water flux (395 L m−2 h−1, PWF) and high flux recovery rate (94%, FRR). Furthermore, the SiO2:ZnO@ZIF-8 membrane showed high separation effect in 4-NP degradation test under light condition, with the flux achieved about 321 L m−2 h−1 during filtration process. The degradation efficiency reached 81.5%, the apparent rate constant (Kapp/min−1) was 0.211 min−1. Besides, in prolonged 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) degradation test, the SiO2:ZnO@ZIF-8 membrane maintained higher flux and degradation rate. Thus, we reported a novel membrane with a prominent antifouling property.