International Scientific Journals
of Scientific Technical Union of Mechanical Engineering "Industry 4.0"

Ultrafiltration polyethersulfone (PES) membranes were prepared by wet phase inversion method. Halloysite nanotubes (HNTs), hydrothermally synthesized titanate nanotubes (TNTs) or their mixture (HNTs/TNTs, weight ratio 50/50) were applied as nanofillers (NFs). N,N – dimethylformamide was used as a solvent, and deionized water was applied as a non-solvent. Some well dispersed aggregates as well as larger agglomerates of the NFs were observed on the surface of the membranes examined by atomic force microscopy. The retention of poly(ethylene glycol) (20 kDa) applied as a model organic compound, by the modified and unmodified membranes was similar and did not exceed 10%. The rejection of 500 kDa dextran ranged from 84 to 92%, and was the highest for the membrane modified with HNTs. A 71% improvement of pure water flux, compared to the neat membrane, was observed in the case of the membrane modified with the HNTs/TNTs. The best antifouling performance during bovine serum albumin filtration exhibited the HNTs-modified membrane.

In this work, the influence of addition of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP, 10kDa, 1-4.8wt%) and Ag-modified titanate nanotubes (Ag/TNTs, 0.1wt%) on physicochemical and transport properties of polyethersulfone (PES) ultrafiltration membranes was studied. The membranes were prepared via wet phase inversion method using N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) as a solvent and water as a non-solvent. The Ag/TNTs nanocomposite was obtained via photodeposition method using AgNO3 as a precursor. It was found that the addition of PVP into the casting dope affected the cross-section structure of the membranes and their surface topography. The presence of PVP improved the dispersion Ag/TNTs agglomerates in the membranes structure. A positive influence of the introduction of the nanocomposite into the membranes matrix on their permeability was also proved.