A reusable electrospun PVDF-PVP-MnO2 nanocomposite membrane for bisphenol A removal from drinking water

In this study, polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) nanocomposite membranes with different fillers were fabricated using electrospinning technique. The physico-chemical properties of electrospun membranes such as PVDF (NF1), PVDF-polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) (NF2), PVDF-activated carbon (AC) (NF3), PVDF-MnO2 (NF4), PVDF-PVP-AC (NF5), and PVDF-PVP-MnO2 (NF6) were assessed using field emission scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (FESEM-EDX), tensile tester, contact angle measurement, zeta potential, and attenuated total reflection-fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR). The Bisphenol A (BPA) removal efficacy of the membranes was assessed using flat sheet membrane filtration unit The single layer filtration for BPA removal at 30 min was found to be 27%, 100%, 24%, 54%, 100%, and 100% for NF1, NF2, NF3, NF4, NF5, and NF6, respectively. In particular, NF2 and NF6 membranes exhibited maximum removal of BPA with good retention potential for the entire sampling time. In recyclic application, the regenerated NF6 membrane showed better reusability for BPA removal. During the removal process, BPA attached with PVP and MnO2 present in NF6 membrane through hydrogen bonding interaction. The hydrogen bonding length and energies (E-H) were calculated by density functional theory (DFT). Finally, this study suggests that PVP and MnO2 incorporated PVDF membrane might be an effective and reusable membrane for BPA removal from drinking water sources.