Where is the best site for loading nanoparticles in a membrane? To achieve a high flux and cephalexin separation simultaneously

Strategies to modify the structure of thin‐film composite membranes for advanced separation of metronidazole antibiotic from wastewater

“…TFC membranes as a new generation of composite membranes have found a special application in drug removal for treating pharmaceutical wastewater thanks to possessing remarkable properties such as high flux 3,4 and high efficiency 5,6 . Meanwhile, thin‐film nano composite membranes, which contain nanoparticles within their structure, have found great popularity in drug separation owing to their excellent properties such as high flux and rejection 7,8 …”

“…In order to better benefit from the superficial properties of copper sulfide particles in membrane separation performance, the nanoparticles should have a suitable distribution within the membrane structure. Thus, AA was coated on the surface of nanoparticles, so that while offering hydrophilicity to nanoparticles, they would also be better distributed across the membrane surface 7,24 …”

“…Thus, AA was coated on the surface of nanoparticles, so that while offering hydrophilicity to nanoparticles, they would also be better distributed across the membrane surface. 7,24 In the present research, for separating metronidazole from water, three models of membrane were used: model 1: membranes composed of a thin PAA film deposited on PSf surface, named as thin film composite (TFC) membranes; Model 2: membrane containing CuS nanoparticles within PAA thin film, named as thin film nano-composite (TFNC) membranes, and model 3: membranes containing modified CuS nanoparticles (CuS@AA), named as modified thin film nanocomposite (MTFNC) membranes. The performance of TFC and TFNC membranes was then tested and compared in separating metronidazole.…”