The Preparation of Double Layers Low Pressure Carbon Nanotubes Membrane

Abstract

Double layers low pressure carbon nanotubes (CNTs) membrane was prepared by pre-depositing CNTs on the Polyethersulfone (PES) flat membrane by pressure-assisted membrane filtration technology. Ethanol and Triton X-100 (TX-100) were used as dispersant to disperse two kinds of CNTs. By filtering two kind of CNTs dispersions in sequence, double layers CNTs were distributed on the surface of a PES membrane. With the proportion of the CNTs using TX-100 as dispersant increasing, the pure water flux of the double layers CNTs membrane will decrease. Normally, a membrane’s upper layer using ethanol as CNTs’ dispersant have higher pure water flux. Overall, almost all the double layers low pressure CNTs membrane realized the higher HA removal rate than single layer. By using CNTs with a diameter of 10-20 nm and length of 10-30 μm, the membrane with upper layer of 70% CNTs using ethanol as dispersant and 30% CNTs using TX-100 as dispersant can removal over 95% HA.