- Title
- Synthesis and characterisation of a PPSU/PEI/SiO2 nanocomposite membrane with enhanced hydrophilicity for copper removal from an aqueous solution
- Creator
- Zarei, Mohammad Mehdi; Neville, Frances; Moreno-Atanasio, Roberto; Webber, Grant B.
- Relation
- Chemeca 2018. Proceedings of the Chemeca 2018 (Queenstown, NZ 30 September - 03 October, 2018) p. 210.1-210.12
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.3316/informit.043141033279319
- Publisher
- Institution of Chemical Engineers
- Resource Type
- conference paper
- Date
- 2018
- Description
- A new polyphenylsulfone (PPSU) nanocomposite membrane was fabricated for removal of copper ions from water. The PPSU membrane was blended with polyethyleneimine (PEI) and inorganic nanoparticles (SiO2) using a phase inversion technique with N-methylpyrrolidone (NMP) as the solvent. This study aimed at demonstrating the superior performance of the synthesised membrane in the removal of copper from water with respect to neat PPSU membranes. Furthermore, the hydrophilicity of PPSU through the measurement of the water contact angle was investigated. The morphology, the distribution of the silica nanoparticles and the presence of chemical functional groups in the prepared membranes have been investigated via field emission-scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and attenuated total reflectance Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR). The FE-SEM and ATR-FTIR analysis revealed the existence of Si-O-Si, Si-OH and NH bonds as well as a cross-linked structure between polymeric chains and inorganic networks. The experimental results showed that the maximum value of copper rejection from aqueous solutions was 92.5% for PPSU/PEI+SiO2 membrane. Moreover, the contact angle of the neat membrane reduced from 84.7degrees +- 1.2 to 45.7degrees +- 0.9 compared to that of the blended one, which implies the enhancement of the membrane hydrophilicity.
- Subject
- polymeric membrane; water treatment; hydrophilicity; nanoparticles
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1441314
- Identifier
- uon:41386
- Identifier
- ISBN:9781911446682
- Language
- eng
- Reviewed
- Hits: 741
- Visitors: 741
- Downloads: 0