Abstract
This study modified the surface of a commercial polyamide membrane with the deposition of TiO2 nanoparticles by the self-assembly method under pressure with high permeability and photocatalytic activity. Changes in membrane characteristics and its performance for photocatalytic properties were evaluated. The results indicated that both membrane hydrophilicity and photocatalytic performance were significantly improved by the presence of TiO2 nanoparticles applied under a pressure of 1 bar. The deposition of the TiO2 particles under pressure was able to maintain the particles on the surface of the membranes and their photocatalytic capacity for three cycles of use. The prepared TiO2 photocatalytic membrane presented a great potential for wastewater treatment and for reuse wastewater systems due its ability to remove methylene blue (MB) dye solution by photocatalytic decomposition and physical separation.
Highlights
In recent years, titanium dioxide (TiO2) has become an important semiconductor used in various industrialized products, including sunscreens, inks, ointments, toothpastes, and catalysts
This study examines TiO2-polyamide membrane properties by various characterization techniques, its permeability in water and photocatalytic activity for methylene blue (MB) dye solution
The size differences of nanoparticles aggregated on the membrane surface are due to the sonication process of the colloidal solution of TiO2, in which larger aggregated particles of TiO2 were divided to form secondary particles from a few tens to a few hundred nanometers
Summary
Titanium dioxide (TiO2) has become an important semiconductor used in various industrialized products, including sunscreens, inks, ointments, toothpastes, and catalysts. Due to its photocatalytic properties in comparison to other semiconductor composites such as SiO2, ZnO, Fe2O3, CuS, Al2O3, ZrO2, TiO2 has several advantages over their use in photocatalytic reactions, such as low cost due to its availability in nature, low toxicity, high chemical- and thermal stability and resistance to photocorrosion (Pan et al, 2013) Given these characteristics, since the 1970’s, when it was proved that water could be decomposed into hydrogen and oxygen in the presence of ultraviolet light on a TiO2 electrode in aqueous solution (Fujishima et al, 1975), TiO2 has received great attention for presenting photocatalytic properties for the decomposition of organic/inorganic materials. Heterogeneous photocatalysis is favored by the increase of the specific area of the semiconductors, its effects are more positive when they are synthesized in nanometric dimensions
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