Journal
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Volume 35, Issue 11, Pages 2388-2394Publisher
AMER CHEMICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1021/es0017099
Keywords
-
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Hybrid organic/inorganic reverse osmosis (RO) membranes composed of aromatic polyamide thin films underneath titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanosized particles have been fabricated by a self-assembly process, aiming, at breakthrough of biofouling problems. First, positively charged particles of the colloidal TiO2 were synthesized by a sol-gel process, and the diameter of the resulting particles in acidic aqueous solution was estimated to be approximate to2 nm by analyzing the UV-visible absorption characteristics with a quantum mechanical model developed by Brus. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) further confirmed the formation of the quantum-sized TiO2 particles (similar to 10 nm or less) The TiO2 paiticles appeared to exist in the crystallographic form of anatase as, observed with the X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern in comparison with those of commercial 100% rutile and commercial 70:30% anatase-to-rutile mixture. The hybrid thin-film-composite (TFC) aromatic polyamide membranes were prepared by self-assembly of the TiO2 nanoparticles on the polymer chains with COOH groups along the surface. They showed improved RO performance in which the water flux even increased, though slightly. Field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) exhibited the TiO2 nanoparticles well adsorbed onto the surface. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) demonstrated quantitatively that a considerable amount of the adsorbed particles were tightly self-assembled at the expense of the initial loss of those that were loosely bound, and became stabilized even after exposure to the various washing and harsh RO operating conditions. The antibacterial fouling potentia I of the TiO2 hybrid membrane was examined and verified by measuring the viable numbers and determining the survival ratios of the Escherichia coli (E. coli) as a model bacterium, both with and without UV light illumination. The photocatalytic bactericidal efficiency was remarkably higher for the TiO2 hybrid.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available