Methylene blue rejection and antifouling properties of different carbonaceous additives-based polyvinylidene fluoride membrane

• Published in: Materials Today Communications
• Main Author: Mohamat R.; Abu Bakar S.; Mohamed A.; Muqoyyanah; Mohamad Kamal S.N.E.A.; Othman M.H.D.; Rohani R.; Mamat M.H.; Malek M.F.; Ahmad M.K.; Ramakrishna S.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 2023
• Online Access: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85150483565&doi=10.1016%2fj.mtcomm.2023.105862&partnerID=40&md5=f32032672b20d54826d7df142cc8a87f

In the present study, various polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF)-based membranes were successfully fabricated via non-solvent induced phase separation (NIPS) method utilising different carbon-based materials as additive. The incorporation of reduced graphene oxide (rGO), multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and GO-MWCNTs hybrid along with titanium dioxide (TiO2) definitely affect the fabricated membrane's morphology, hydrophilicity, porosity, filtration performance and antifouling properties. Based on dead-end filtration measurement, rGO-based PVDF/TiO2 membrane presented excellent pure water flux (2446.887 L/m2h) with membrane permeability of 1143.850 L/m2hMPa compared to other membranes. Furthermore, the inclusion of rGO and TiO2 also resulted in the highest methylene blue (MB) dye rejection rate (∼92%) compared to MWCNTs (62.22%) and GO-MWCNTs (86.69%). It was believed that steric hindrance effect played a major role in enhancing dye rejection performance of PVDF@rGO/TiO2 membrane. Interestingly, in terms of antifouling properties, PVDF@GO-MWCNTs/TiO2 possessed better antifouling properties as indicated by its higher flux recovery ratio (FRR) value of 95.30%. The existence of hydration layer on membrane surface endowed by oxygen-functional groups prevents the contaminant accumulation thus resulted high FRR value. © 2023