Polyacrylonitrile membranes modified with carbon nanotubes: characterization and micropollutants removal analysis

The phase inversion method was used to prepare polyacrylonitrile membranes modified with single-walled carbon nanotubes. The influence of the amount and the kind of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) (pristine and functionalized with carboxyl groups) were determined analysing the structure of membranes, hydrophobic-hydrophilic characteristics, zeta potential, and transport-separation properties. Based on the microscopic analysis, it was established that their structure changed depending on the amount of nanotubes added. The membranes with the highest content of CNTs were characterized by the highest membrane capacity. Those membranes were used in low pressure filtration in order to remove micropollutants from synthetic wastewater. The effectiveness of micropollutants removal was dependant on the kind of membranein the range 15-65% for bisphenol A, and 25-87% for nonylphenol. The key mechanism in separation of low molecular organic compounds was the sorption phenomenon intensified by the presence of CNTs.