Synchronous removal of emulsions and organic dye over palladium nanoparticles anchored cellulose-based membrane

Abstract

Membrane is a considerable precursor for emulsions separation and organic dyes degradation used in water purification and oil reclamation. However, the tedious preparation method, the surface smears easily, and low degradation efficiency, these characteristics usually significantly hinder its applicability toward wastewater governance. Herein, a green, facile, and efficient fabrication strategy to prepare a bi-functional palladium nanoparticles (PdNPs)-loaded bacterial cellulose membrane (BCMPd) is proposed. A tri-functional bacterial cellulose membrane (BCM) was obtained by percolating bacterial cellulose (BC) on a basal membrane, and BCM served as a support, reducing agent, and stabilizer in the subsequent reduction of PdNPs. Bi-functional BCMPd was successfully obtained and used for continuously removing emulsions and reducing methylene blue (MB) from simulated wastewater via the integration of physical sieving and chemical reaction. Meanwhile, the enhancement factors for the water transfer ability and demulsification capacity correlated directly with the wettability and surface structure of BCMPd. Furthermore, the dosage of BC was adjusted to reveal the mechanism for the enhanced water transferability and demulsification capacity. Notably, PdNPs of BCMPd decreased Fermi potential difference between BH4- and MB, accelerating the electron transfer of the reduction reaction and thus exhibiting a remarkable MB degradation efficiency. Together, the information obtained in this work can be useful for comprehensively addressing the bottleneck of forming a cost-effective, eco-friendly, and bi-functional membrane reactor, providing an alternative approach for better treatment of complex wastewater.