Engineered Photocatalytic Material Membrane Assemblies for Removing Nitrate from Water

LiNbO3, as a nonlinear optical material (NLO), can remove nitrate from water via photocatalytic denitrification (PCDN), which has received increasing attention in the field of water treatment. In this work, efficient denitrification of water was achieved by coating a poly(ether sulfone) (PES) support membrane with a hydrothermally synthesized LiNbO3 powder. The photocatalytic membrane could achieve a water flux of 237 ± 12 L m–2h–1 per bar with a LiNbO3 and polyethylenimine assembly. In addition, the photocatalytic membrane possess inherent and unique advantages over common ultrafiltration membranes, such as separation performance and antifouling properties. In addition, the LiNbO3 has been successfully applied to the membrane materials, endowing the membrane with high photocatalytic activity. The photocatalytic denitrification experiments on the membranes indicated that the low concentration of nitrate(10 mg L–1) can be reduced to N2 via CO2•– radicals under conditions of a 365 nm UV light source, with 8...