Studies on polyetherethersulfone based mixed matrix membranes

Abstract

The rapid growth in population and development of industries results in a greater demand for the clean and safe environment. So water scarcity arises all over the world due to this rapid enlargement. Focus on theconservation of materials and reducing the pollutants loads on discharge from the factories to protect the environment needs better and efficient separation technologies. Membrane separation technology has been intuitive from this necessity.The major obstacle of this promising tool is membrane fouling and which can be reduced through hydrophilicity enhancement. The asymmetric Polyetherethersulfone ultrafiltration membranes play an important role in ultrafiltration which is prepared by casting the polymer solution followed by immersing in a non-solvent bath to induce phase newlineseparation and gelation. Low-dimensional carbon material was used to improve the hydrophilicity of the membrane, therefore the antifouling property has been improved. Initially, the Graphene Oxide (GO) nanosheets were prepared by Modified Hummers method. GO was modified by covalent functionalization with 3-amino propyltriethoxysilane (APTS). GO and its modified product was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM).Three membrane systems were prepared by using graphene oxide and functionalized graphene oxide. newline newline