Photocatalytic thin film composite forward osmosis membrane for mitigating organic fouling in active layer facing draw solution mode

As a high-flux operation mode of thin film composite-forward osmosis(TFC-FO)membrane,active layer facing draw solution(AL-DS)mode suffers from the severe membrane fouling tendency,which is not addressed well.Here,we introduced a photocatalyst(Anatase titanium dioxide,A-TiO_(2))onto the support layer of TFC-FO membrane via the bonding of polydopamine(PDA)and polytetrafluoroethylene(PTFE),and prepared two photocatalytic membranes,A-TiO_(2)/PDA@TFC and A-TiO_(2)/PTFE@TFC.Compared with the pristine TFC-FO membrane,both A-Ti O_(2)/PDA@TFC and A-TiO_(2)/PTFE@TFC had an improved water permeability(10.5 L m^(-2)h^(-1)and 9.5 L m^(-2)h^(-1),respectively)and reduced reverse Na Cl flux salt(0.8 g m^(-2)h^(-1)and 0.7 g m^(-2)h^(-1),respectively)in the AL-DS mode using 1 mol/L Na Cl as draw solution and pure water as feed solution.Moreover,in the 16 h fouling experiment using 200 ppm bovine serum albumin(BSA)solution as a representative pollutant,the flux decline rate of both photocatalytic membranes was dramatically alleviated from 39.7%and 21.7%in the darkness to 8.5%and 9.7%under UV irradiation,respectively,indicating a significant anti-fouling capacity of photocatalytic effect.In all,the presence of A-TiO_(2)endowed membrane with high permeability,high rejection efficiency and excellent anti-fouling capacity under UV spotlight.As bonding agent,PTFE provided the modified membrane with a high photocatalytic effect and high self-cleaning capacity,while PDA increased the membrane permeability and protected membrane against photocatalytic damage.This work provides a simple and feasible method to improve the anti-fouling capacity of TFC-FO membrane in AL-DS mode.

Fabrication of Microporous Membranes from Melt Extruded Polypropylene Precursor Films via Stretching: Effect of Annealing

In this work, the effects of annealing conditions on the microstructure of polypropylene（PP） precursor films and further on the porous structure and permeability of stretched membranes were investigated. Combinations of WAXD, FTIR, DSC and DMA results clearly showed the crystalline orientation and crystallinity of the precursor film increased with annealing temperature, while the molecular chain entanglements in the amorphous phase decreased. Changes in the deformation behavior suggested more lamellar separation occurred for the films annealed at higher temperatures. Surface morphologies of the membranes examined by SEM revealed more pore number and uniform porous structure as the annealing temperature increased. In accordance with the SEM results, the permeability of the membranes increased with annealing temperature. On the other hand, it was found that 10 min was almost enough for the annealing process to obtain the microporous membranes with an optimal permeability.