Highly antifouling polymer-nanoparticle-nanoparticle/polymer hybrid membranes

Vahid Vatanpour; Maryam Jouyandeh; Seyed Soroush Mousavi Khadem; Shadi Paziresh; Ahmad Dehqan; Mohammad Reza Ganjali; Hiresh Moradi; Somayeh Mirsadeghi; Alireza Badiei; Muhammad Tajammal Munir; Ahmad Mohaddespour; Navid Rabiee; Sajjad Habibzadeh; Amin Hamed Mashhadzadeh; Sasan Nouranian; Krzysztof Formela; Mohammad Reza Saeb

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.152228

Highly antifouling polymer-nanoparticle-nanoparticle/polymer hybrid membranes

Sci Total Environ. 2022 Mar 1:810:152228. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.152228. Epub 2021 Dec 8.

Authors

Vahid Vatanpour¹, Maryam Jouyandeh², Seyed Soroush Mousavi Khadem², Shadi Paziresh³, Ahmad Dehqan³, Mohammad Reza Ganjali⁴, Hiresh Moradi⁵, Somayeh Mirsadeghi⁶, Alireza Badiei⁷, Muhammad Tajammal Munir⁸, Ahmad Mohaddespour⁸, Navid Rabiee⁹, Sajjad Habibzadeh¹⁰, Amin Hamed Mashhadzadeh¹¹, Sasan Nouranian¹², Krzysztof Formela¹³, Mohammad Reza Saeb¹⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, Kharazmi University, Tehran 15719-14911, Iran. Electronic address: vahidvatanpour@khu.ac.ir.
² Center of Excellence in Electrochemistry, School of Chemistry, University of Tehran, Tehran 14176-14411, Iran.
³ Department of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, Kharazmi University, Tehran 15719-14911, Iran.
⁴ Center of Excellence in Electrochemistry, School of Chemistry, University of Tehran, Tehran 14176-14411, Iran; School of Resources and Environment, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 611731, China; Biosensor Research Center, Endocrinology and Metabolism Molecular-Cellular Sciences Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran 14117-13137, Iran.
⁵ Research and Development Unit, Ghaffari Chemical Industries Corporation, Tehran, Iran.
⁶ Endocrinology and Metabolism Center, Endocrinology and Metabolism Clinical Medical Institute, Tehran University of Medical Science, Tehran 14117-13137, Iran.
⁷ School of Chemistry, University of Tehran, Tehran 14176-14411, Iran.
⁸ College of Engineering and Technology, American University of the Middle East, Egaila, Kuwait.
⁹ Department of Physics, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran 11155-9161, Iran.
¹⁰ Department of Chemical Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic), Tehran 15916-34311, Iran.
¹¹ Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, School of Engineering and Digital Sciences, Nazarbayev University, Nur-Sultan 010000, Kazakhstan.
¹² Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Mississippi, MS 38677, United States.
¹³ Department of Polymer Technology, Gdańsk University of Technology, G. Narutowicza 11/12, 80-233 Gdańsk, Poland.
¹⁴ Université de Lorraine, CentraleSupélec, LMOPS, F-57000 Metz, France. Electronic address: mrsaeb2008@gmail.com.

PMID: 34890675
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.152228

Abstract

We introduce highly antifouling Polymer-Nanoparticle-Nanoparticle/Polymer (PNNP) hybrid membranes as multi-functional materials for versatile purification of wastewater. Nitrogen-rich polyethylenimine (PEI)-functionalized halloysite nanotube (HNT-SiO₂-PEI) nanoparticles were developed and embedded in polyvinyl chloride (PVC) membranes for protein and dye filtration. Bulk and surface characteristics of the resulting HNT-SiO₂-PEI nanocomposites were determined using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Moreover, microstructure and physicochemical properties of HNT-SiO₂-PEI/PVC membranes were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and attenuated total reflectance (ATR)-FTIR. Results of these analyses indicated that the overall porosity and mean pore size of nanocomposite membranes were enhanced, but the surface roughness was reduced. Additionally, surface hydrophilicity and flexibility of the original PVC membranes were significantly improved by incorporating HNT-SiO₂-PEI nanoparticles. Based on pure water permeability and bovine serum albumin (BSA)/dye rejection tests, the highest nanoparticle-embedded membrane performance was observed at 2 weight percent (wt%) of HNT-SiO₂-PEI. The nanocomposite incorporation in the PVC membranes further improved its antifouling performance and flux recovery ratio (96.8%). Notably, dye separation performance increased up to 99.97%. Overall, hydrophobic PVC membranes were successfully modified by incorporating HNT-SiO₂-PEI nanomaterial and better-quality wastewater treatment performance was obtained.

Keywords: Antifouling; Dye filtration; Functionalized halloysite nanotubes; Polyvinyl chloride membranes; Wastewater treatment.

MeSH terms

Biofouling* / prevention & control
Membranes, Artificial
Nanocomposites*
Nanoparticles*
Polymers
Silicon Dioxide

Substances

Membranes, Artificial
Polymers
Silicon Dioxide