Role of functional nanoparticles to enhance the polymeric membrane performance for mixture gas separation

Abstract To improve the water vapor/gas separation the hydroxylated TiO 2 (OH-TiO 2 ) nanopartilces have been synthesized and surface of polysulfone (PSf) hollow fiber membrane (HFM) has been coated as thin film nanocomposite (TFN) membranes. To remove the water vapor from mixture gas, hollow fiber membrane has been fabricated and while coating, the OH-TiO 2 nanoparticles have been incorporated in the m -phenylenediamine (MPD) solution to make TFN membrane. Aqueous MPD—OH-TiO 2 nanoparticles mix solutions and organic trimesoyl chloride (TMC) were used to prepare the TFN membranes on the surface of the PSf HFM substrate. Pristine TiO 2 surface was modified to initiate functional groups on the TiO 2 surface to increase the hydrophilicity of the nanoparticles. Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy was used to confirm the hydroxylation of TiO 2 nanoparticles. The membranes were well characterized using different physicochemical characterization techniques. The membrane performances were evaluated based on water vapor permeance, selectivity, water vapor flux and water vapor removal efficiency. Obtained experimental results designated that the incorporated OH-TiO 2 nanoparticles were dispersed well while interfacial polymerization in the TFN layer and their addition enhanced membrane performances. With an increasing concentration of OH-TiO 2 nanoparticles from 0.025 to 0.2 wt.% compare with MPD solution during the fabrication, water vapor permeance and selectivity significantly enhanced due to the amplified water vapor permeation corridors afforded by the modified OH-TiO 2 nanoparticles. After increasing the concentration of OH-TiO 2 more than 0.2 wt.% in the monomer solution the agglomeration was started. The results revealed that the addition of modified hydroxylated TiO 2 in MPD solution up to 0.2 w/w% (membrane sample TFN-4 (MT(0.5, 0.2)-OH-TiO 2 -0.2)) increased the permeate flux and showed the best permeance 1396 GPU and selectivity 510 among the all prepared membranes.