Journal of Applied Sciences and Nanotechnology

Abstract

Due to low water fluxes, commercial ultrafiltration (UF) membranes used in water treatment need to be improved. High-quality UF membranes were fabricated from polysulfone (PSF)/titanium dioxide (TiO₂) nanocomposite fibers as substrates using the spray pyrolysis method. The influence of nano-TiO₂ on the UF nanocomposite membrane was studied. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), contact angle, and porosity were evaluated to characterize the mechanical characteristics of the membranes. The results show that adding TiO₂ to the substrates increased the hydrophilicity and porosity of the substrates. The pure water flux of the Thin Film Nanocomposite (TFN) membrane manufactured utilizing a PSF substrate coated with 0.1 wt% TiO₂ nanoparticles (denoted as Pc 0.1) improved at a rate of 35.28 l/m².h, and for a PSF substrate coated with 0.2 wt% TiO₂ nanoparticles (denoted as Pc 0.2) improved at a rate of 44 l/m².h. Additionally, increasing TiO­₂ nanoparticle loading to 0.1 and 0.2 wt. percent resulted in higher water flow over 20 l/m².h PSF commercial membrane. The results of the UF performance show that Pc 0.2 membrane offered the most promising results, with a high-water flux than commercial membranes without nano-TiO₂ (Pc).