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Fabrication of electrospun polyethersulfone/titanium dioxide (PES/TiO 2 ) composite nanofibers membrane and its application for photocatalytic degradation of phenol in aqueous solution
Author(s) -
Ehsani Masoume,
Aroujalian Abdolreza
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
polymers for advanced technologies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.61
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1099-1581
pISSN - 1042-7147
DOI - 10.1002/pat.4813
Subject(s) - phenol , materials science , photocatalysis , nanofiber , chemical engineering , titanium dioxide , membrane , response surface methodology , aqueous solution , degradation (telecommunications) , composite number , composite material , catalysis , chromatography , organic chemistry , chemistry , biochemistry , telecommunications , computer science , engineering
The main objective of this research is to use the photocatalytic properties of PES/TiO 2 nanofibers membranes to remove the phenol as a toxic pollutant in various effluents. The uniform fibers in terms of minimum bead formation and fibers diameter were fabricated. Therefore, more TiO 2 catalysts are on the surface of the fibers which increase the active surface area of nanoparticles and consequently improve the phenol degradation efficiency. The effects of TiO 2 concentration on hydrophilicity, mechanical properties, porosity, mean pore size, and water flux of membranes were studied. The PES/TiO 2 nanofibers were evaluated for phenol degradation under UVA irradiation through a transparent membrane module. The amount of removable phenol was analyzed with high‐performance liquid chromatography. Central composite design was used as a statistical experimental design. Finally, the effect of TiO 2 content in nanofibers and initial phenol concentrations were investigated as well as pH values in synthetic wastewater, on phenol degradation. The results from analysis of variance (ANOVA) analysis indicated that TiO 2 content in nanofibers was the most important and effective parameter on phenol degradation. It was also presented that there is no significant interaction between parameters so that the effect of each parameter was investigated separately. Maximum phenol degradation was 43.0 ± 0.3% and found under conditions of TiO 2 content, initial phenol concentration, and pH value of 8%, 120 ppm, and 7, respectively.