Modification of polyethersulfone membranes by Polyethyleneimine (PEI) grafted Silica nanoparticles and their application for textile wastewater treatment

ABSTRACT

In the current work, a novel nanocomposite membrane for wastewater treatment applications has been synthesized. A hydrophilic nature nanoadditive comprised grafting polyethylenimine (PEI) molecules onto the surfaces of silica nanoparticles (SiO₂ NPs) was synthesized then entrapped within a polyethersulfone polymeric matrix at disparate ratios via the classical phase inversion technique. A series of experimental tools were employed to probe the influence of SiO₂-PEI on the surface topography and morphological changes, hydrophilicity, porosity, surface chemistry as well as permeation and dyes retention characteristics of the new nanocomposite. Upon increasing the nanoadditives content (up to 0.7 wt. % SiO₂- PEI), clear cross-sectional changes were depicted along with a noticeable decline in the water contact angle by 29.7%. Performance evaluation measurements against synthetic dye solutions were disclosed explicit enhancement in both; retention and permeation characteristics of the nanocomposite membranes. Besides, prolonged permeation test has maintained high flux stability against real textile wastewater; implying better resistance and self-cleaning characteristics have been achieved.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS:

• Membranes modification
• silica nanoparticles
• textile
• polyethyleneimine
• wastewater

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Not applicable.

Conflicts of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.