The influences of deposited silica nanoparticles on a forward osmosis membrane

Youngpil Chun, Dennis Mulcahy, In S. Kim, Linda Zou

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

The effect of silica nanoparticles (SNPs) deposition on the properties of a commercial forward osmosis (FO) membrane was investigated in this work. Deposition of SNPs on the FO membrane was performed by a conventional sol–gel hydrolysis of tetraethyl orthosilicate and a simple dip-coating procedure. Scanning electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and attenuated total reflectance–Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy confirmed the successful deposition of SNPs on the membrane surface. The coated membranes were used in a bench scale FO system and their performance was evaluated through measuring the permeate water flux and fouling resistance. Successful deposition of SNPs smoothed out the membrane surface and increased surface hydrophilicity. The effects of SNP enabled a higher water flux and fouling resistance than for the pristine FO membrane, possibly due to increased hydrophilicity and decreased membrane roughness.

Original languageBritish English
Pages (from-to)18-26
Number of pages9
JournalDesalination and Water Treatment
Volume80
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2017

Keywords

  • FO membrane
  • Gel hydrolysis
  • Membrane coating
  • Membrane fouling
  • Silica nanoparticles
  • Sol

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