Synthesis of novel magneto-hybrid polyoxometalate composite membrane with simultaneous photocatalytic self-cleaning and antifouling functionalities

Abstract

Membrane technology is ideal for removing aqueous humic acid, but humic acid deposits cause membrane fouling, a significant challenge that limits its application. Herein, this work proposed an alternative approach to the controllably magnetically induced magneto-hybrid polyoxometalate (magneto-HPOM) nanocomposite migration toward the polyethersulfone (PES) membrane surface under a magnetic field to enhance the self-cleaning and antifouling functionalities of the membrane. Before incorporating magneto-HPOM nanocomposite into the PES casting solution, functionalized magnetite nanoparticles (F-MNP) were first coated with HPOM photocatalyst to fabricate a magneto-HPOM-PES membrane. It was shown that the apparent impacts of this novel magneto-HPOM-PES membrane on the hydrophilic behavior and photocatalytic properties of the magneto-HPOM nanocomposite improve the hydrophilicity, separation performance, antifouling and self-cleaning properties of the membrane compared with neat PES membrane. Furthermore, after exposure to ultraviolet light, the magneto-HPOM-PES membrane can be recovered after three cycles with a flux recovery ratio of 107.95%, 100.06%, and 95.56%, which is attributed to the temporal super hydrophilicity effect. Meanwhile, the magneto-HPOM-PES membrane could efficiently maintain 100% humic acid rejection for the first and second cycles and 99.81% for the third cycle. This study revealed a novel approach to fabricating membranes with high antifouling and self-cleaning properties for water treatment.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

magneto-hybrid polyoxometalate nanocomposite / composite membrane / antifouling / self-cleaning / magnetic and photocatalytic responsiveness

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Conflicts of interest

There are no conflicts to declare.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the support from the Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS) under grant number of FRGS/1/2021/TK0/UNIMAP/02/3 from the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia. Furthermore, sincere indebtedness and gratitude are addressed to Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP).

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