Enhancing water flux and antifouling properties of PES hollow fiber membranes via incorporation of surface‐functionalized Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles

Abstract

BACKGROUND: In this study, polyethersulfone (PES) hollow fiber membranes incorporated with surface-functionalized iron oxide (Fe 3 O 4 ) nanoparticles were developed in order to improve water flux and antifouling properties of PES membrane. Commercial Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles was coated by polydopamine (PDA), followed by functionalization using (3-aminopropyl) triethoxysilane (APTES) and sulfonic acid to produce Fe 3 O 4 /PDA-Amine and Fe 3 O 4 /PDA-Sulf nanoparticles, respectively. All the nanoparticles-modified membranes were synthesized using dope solution composed of different nanoparticles, followed by a series of instrumental characterization and filtration assessments. RESULTS: It is found that the membrane incorporated with Fe 3 O 4 /PDA-Amine exhibited the best filtration performance, achieving water flux of 137.23 L m −2 h −1 bar −1 and bovine serum albumin (BSA) rejection of 92.16%. As a comparison, the pristine PES membrane only showed 82.60 L m −2 h −1 bar −1 and 71.92%, respectively. The membrane with Fe 3 O 4 /PDA-Sulf also showed lower performance, recording 129.88 L m −2 h −1 bar −1 and 88.39%, respectively. The improved performance of the Fe 3 O 4 / PDA-Amine-modified PES membrane could be attributed to its lowest water contact angle (65.10°), highest porosity (68.14%), ideal pore size (65 nm) as well as good structural integrity. More importantly, the improved surface properties also led to outstanding fouling resistance, achieving flux recovery rate of 97%. This membrane also achieved excellent chemical oxygen demand (95.17%) and color (89.86%) reduction when tested using river water sample. CONCLUSION: Our work demonstrated a simple approach to functionalize the surface of Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles and showed the effectiveness of the surface-functionalized Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles in improving not only the surface properties of PES membrane but also its filtration performance in terms of permeability, rejection and antifouling property.

Recent Advances on the Fabrication of Antifouling Phase-Inversion Membranes by Physical Blending Modification Method

“…Iron oxides in the forms of Fe 2 O 3 (Ferric oxide) and Fe 3 O 4 (Ferrous oxide) are promising metal oxides for improving the membrane performance against fouling with improved permeability [ 14 , 51 , 205 , 219 , 220 , 221 , 222 , 223 , 224 , 225 , 226 , 227 ]. In addition, due to the magnetic nature of iron oxide, it is useful to the study of the photocatalytic performance of polymeric membranes [ 240 ].…”

Advanced Polymeric Nanocomposite Membranes for Water and Wastewater Treatment: A Comprehensive Review

“…Nawi et al fabricated the surface of Fe 3 O 4 NPs with polydopamine, followed by functionalization with (3-aminopropyl)triethoxysilane (APTES) or chlorosulfonic acid, which were impregnated onto hollow PES fibers by the dry/wet spinning method. These nanocomposite membranes demonstrated an enhancement in water flux (82.60 → 137.23 ) and adsorption capacity (71.92 → 92.16%) of bovine serum albumin (BSA) when compared to pristine PES fiber [ 148 ].…”