In order to obtain membranes with both organic separation and adsorption functions, knitted tube composite β-cyclodextrin/chitosan (β-CD/CS) porous membranes were prepared by the non-solvent induced phase separation (NIPS) method using CS and β-CD as a membrane-forming matrix, glutaraldehyde as crosslinking agent to improve water stability, and knitted tube as reinforcement to enhance the mechanical properties. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), contact angle, water flux, bovine serum albumin (BSA) rejection and tensile test were carried out. The FTIR demonstrated that the β-CD and CS had been successfully crosslinked. With the crosslinking time increased, the membrane structure became denser, the contact angle and the rejection rate increased, while the water flux decreased. The strength and elongation at a break were 236 and 1.7 times higher than these of bare β-CD/CS porous membranes, respectively. The strength of crosslinking membranes increased further. The adsorption performance of composite membranes was investigated for the removal of phenolphthalein (PP) from aqueous solution. The adsorption process followed the Langmuir isotherm model, and the kinetic behavior was accorded with the Double constant equation and the Elovich equation. The adsorption mechanism could be explained by the synergistic effect of host-guest interaction from β-cyclodextrin, non-uniform diffusion and porous network capture.
Keywords: adsorption performance; chitosan; crosslinking; porous membranes; β-cyclodextrin.