Improving performance and antifouling capability of PES UF membranes via blending with highly hydrophilic hydrous manganese dioxide nanoparticles

Hydrous manganese dioxide (HMO) nanoparticles were synthesized and incorporated in polyethersulfone (PES) to fabricate nanocomposite mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) for ultrafiltration (UF). The resulting membranes were characterized by XRD, FTIR, contact angle goniometer, SEM and AFM before further subjected to water permeation test and UF of bovine serum albumin (BSA) solution. It was found that contact angle of membrane decreased remarkably while porosity increased with an increase in HMO nanoparticle loading. The pore size at the skin layer however decreased as observed both by SEM and AFM. As for the UF experiments, pure water permeation rate increased remarkably with increasing nanoparticle loading but the permeation rate of BSA did not increase very much. Interestingly, the membrane flux recovery by washing with DI water was considerably enhanced by an increase in nanoparticle loading, indicating the improvement in membrane anti-fouling property upon HMO nanoparticle addition. The observed phenomena can be explained by the increase in membrane hydrophilicity and the formation of patterned surface with an increase in nanoparticle loading. Time-dependent fluxes of the membranes during 3-step filtration: (i) water flux for 30min, (ii) 1000ppm BSA solution flux for 120min and (iii) water flux for 30min after washing with DI water. [Display omitted] •Novel PES/HMO MMM was prepared by phase inversion.•Antifouling property of PES membrane was improved upon HMO nanoparticle addition.•Contact angle was decreased from 69.5° for M0 to 27.7° for M1.5.•Pure water flux was increased from 39.4 for M0 to 499.2L/m2·h·bar for M1.5.•The initial pure water flux could be nearly completely recovered by simple washing.