Abstract
Today, there is an increasing interest in improving the physicochemical properties of polymeric membranes by merging the membranes with different inorganic materials. These so-called composite membranes have been implemented in different membrane-based technologies (e.g., microfiltration, ultrafiltration, nanofiltration, membrane bioreactors, among others) for water treatment and disinfection. This is because such inorganic materials (such as TiO2-, ZnO-, Ag-, and Cu-based nanoparticles, carbon-based materials, to mention just a few) can improve the separation performance of membranes and also some other properties, such as antifouling, mechanical, thermal, and physical and chemical stability. Moreover, such materials display specific biological activity towards viruses, bacteria, and protozoa, showing enhanced water disinfection properties. Therefore, the aim of this review is to collect the latest advances (in the last five years) in using composite membranes and new hybrid materials for water disinfection, paying particular emphasis on relevant results and new hydride composites together with their preparation protocols. Moreover, this review addresses the main mechanism of action of different conventional and novel inorganic materials toward biologically active matter.
Highlights
Polymeric membranes have been widely applied for different types of water treatment applications, such as waste derivatives from agro-food [1,2,3], textile [4], and petroleum industries [5], or removal of organic matter from drinking water [6,7,8]
It has been reported that small graphene oxide (GO) loading into PVDF ultrafiltration membranes increased the water permeability by 96.4% compared to the pristine membrane, while the tensile strength was raised by 123% [37]
Through the analysis of the latest research works, composite materials and membranes have demonstrated their ability to degrade several pollutant compounds and microorganisms contained in water
Summary
Polymeric membranes have been widely applied for different types of water treatment applications, such as waste derivatives from agro-food [1,2,3], textile [4], and petroleum industries [5], or removal of organic matter from drinking water [6,7,8]. A composite membrane has emerged as an option of improving the physico-chemical properties of polymer membranes, such as hydrophilicity, biofouling resistance, separation performance, and mechanical, thermal, physical, and chemical stability [5] These membranes have been studied over recent years, gaining the attraction of researchers [15,16].
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