High-flux and high rejection TiO2 nanofibers ultrafiltration membrane with porous titanium as supporter

Both high permeability and high selectivity are advantageous for separation membrane materials. It is a huge challenge to fabricate a membrane that simultaneously possesses both high permeability and high rejection. Here, we fabricated a TiO2 nanofibers ultrafiltration membrane by depositing hydrogen titanate nanofibers on a porous titanium substrate and sintering at 450 degrees C. The porous titanium supported TiO2 nanofibers ultrafiltration membrane has a superhydrophilic separation layer and a high pure water flux of 940 L m(-2) h(-1) bar(-1). The average pore size of the TiO2 nanofibers ultrafiltration membrane is 14 nm. The nanoparticles that particle size is smaller than pore size of TiO2 nanofibers ultrafiltration membrane such as Bovine serum albumin (BSA, 11 nm) and 3 nm TiO2 nanoparticles can be rejected with high permeation flux and high rejection efficiency. The obtained ultrafiltration membrane exhibits excellent antifouling property, the flux recovery ratio reaches to 97%. Also, the fouling of the TiO2 nanofibers ultrafiltration membrane can be removed by heating treatment, the permeation flux of the membrane can be easily recovered.