Back to Search
Start Over
Development of polysulfone-nanohybrid membranes using ZnO-GO composite for enhanced antifouling and antibacterial control
- Publication Year :
- 2017
-
Abstract
- Zinc oxide nanoparticles were well-known for the enhanced antifouling and antibacterial properties which could be beneficial for membrane processes in desalination. The functionalization of ZnO onto graphene oxide nanoplates was targeted for better distribution. Both ZnO and ZnO-GO NPs were synthesized using sol-gel method. The nanoparticles characteristics were checked with XRD, TEM, and FESEM. The nanohybrid membranes were fabricated via wet phase inversion technique and embedded with various percentage of ZnO (1, 2, 3 wt%) and ZnO-GO (0.1, 0.3, 0.6 wt%) nanoparticles. All the membranes with nanoparticles incorporation exhibited improved membrane properties in comparison with the pristine PSF membrane. The best membrane performance was shown in membrane with 2 wt% of ZnO and 0.6 wt% of ZnO-GO. These two membranes presented significantly improved performance such as enhanced hydrophilicity, high permeability and porosity, improved humic acid rejection rate as well as good antifouling and antibacterial control. To an extent, the excellent antimicrobial ability of these nanohybrid membranes appeared as appropriate candidate to contribute or overcome bio-fouling issues in applications such as brackish water or seawater desalination. Hence, ZnO and ZnO-GO NPs were superb nanomaterials in the fabrication of PSF-nanohybrid membranes. The use of GO nanoplates allowed reduction of ZnO composition by up to 5 times while showing similar performances. This study was financially supported by the NPRP grant # [ 5-1425-2-607 ] from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of Qatar Foundation). The statements made herein are solely the responsibility of the authors. In addition, the authors wish to acknowledge the Ministry of Education Malaysia for sponsoring the postgraduate study of Y.T. Chung through the MyBrain15 program. The CRIM (Centre for Research and Instrumentation Management, UKM) is also acknowledged for XRD, FESEM and TEM analyses. Scopus
- Subjects :
- Materials science
General Chemical Engineering
Polysulfone membrane
Nanoparticle
Nanotechnology
02 engineering and technology
010501 environmental sciences
01 natural sciences
Nanomaterials
law.invention
Biofouling
chemistry.chemical_compound
law
Zinc oxide
General Materials Science
Polysulfone
Zinc oxide-graphene oxide nanohybrid
Phase inversion (chemistry)
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
Water Science and Technology
Graphene
Mechanical Engineering
General Chemistry
Antifouling
021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology
Antibacterial
Membrane
chemistry
Surface modification
0210 nano-technology
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....d7a3bb69ae437e6f4a261ac5ea6c8044