Polyurethane nanofibrous membranes decorated with reduced graphene oxide–TiO2 for photocatalytic templates in water purification

The Role of Electrospun Nanomaterials in the Future of Energy and Environment

“…Another study in this area reported the thermal and mechanical stability improvement of the nanofibers when electrospun polyurethane nanofibrous membranes loaded with reduced graphene oxide-titanium dioxide composite nanoparticles (rGO-TiO 2 ) [ 169 ]. Visible-light-driven photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue dye was investigated and increased degradation efficiency with increasing the rGO-TiO 2 content in the membranes was attributed to the facile diffusion of dye molecules to the photo-catalytically active moieties on the membrane due to the lower fiber diameter and higher surface area of the resulted rGO-TiO 2 -decorated membranes.…”

Composite Water-Borne Polyurethane Nanofibrous Electrospun Membranes with Photocatalytic Properties

“…As a matter of fact, photocatalytic electrospun membranes, where the active particles are immobilized or embedded onto the nanofibers, are expected to address the abovementioned limitations and lead to the development of novel and efficient filtering materials that can merge multiple characteristics within a single device. Among others, polyurethanes (PUs) represent promising materials to be used for this specific purpose due to their low cost, unique elastomeric mechanical behavior, and versatility as well as resistance to UV light, chemicals, and temperature. , Unfortunately, PUs require a high amount of volatile organic solvents to be processed via electrospinning, therefore representing a significant environmental burden as well as non-negligible cost. To overcome such limitations, water-borne polyurethanes (WBPUs) have recently started to gain increasing interest because water is the only solvent required in their manufacturing process.…”

“…Among others, polyurethanes (PUs) represent promising materials to be used for this specific purpose due to their low cost, unique elastomeric mechanical behavior, and versatility as well as resistance to UV light, chemicals, and temperature. 33,34 Unfortunately, PUs require a high amount of volatile organic solvents to be processed via electrospinning, therefore representing a significant environmental burden as well as non-negligible cost. To overcome such limitations, water-borne polyurethanes (WBPUs) have recently started to gain increasing interest because water is the only solvent required in their manufacturing process.…”

Fabrication of asymmetric zinc oxide/carbon nanotubes coated polysulfone photocatalytic nanocomposite membrane for fouling mitigation

“…18,19 Most often, the photocatalytic membrane is formed by simply blending the photocatalyst into the membrane matrix. [20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28] The photocatalyst blended approach was adopted by Singh et al 17 to synthesize a photocatalytic membrane that composed of Cu 2 O photocatalyst and polysulfone (PSF) matrix. The Cu 2 O was blended into a PSF solution and the photocatalytic membrane was casted through phase inversion method.…”

“…Recently, the idea of incorporating photocatalyst such as zinc oxide (ZnO), 13,14 titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ), 15 iron oxide (Fe 2 O 3 ) 16 and cuprous oxide (Cu 2 O) 17 into membrane to form a so‐called photocatalytic membrane has become an auspicious antifouling strategy anticipating the ability of the photocatalytic membrane to degrade the foulant into innocuous components such as water, carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) via photocatalysis 18,19 . Most often, the photocatalytic membrane is formed by simply blending the photocatalyst into the membrane matrix 20–28 . The photocatalyst blended approach was adopted by Singh et al 17 to synthesize a photocatalytic membrane that composed of Cu 2 O photocatalyst and polysulfone (PSF) matrix.…”