PES membrane surface modification via layer-by-layer self-assembly of GO@TiO2 for improved photocatalytic performance

We herein report novel polyethersulfone/graphene oxide@titanium dioxide (PES/GO@TiO 2 ) photocatalytic membranes developed via the layer-by-layer (LBL) self-assembly technique. The synergistic coupling of GO and TiO 2 could result in improved photocatalytic activity and endow the pristine PES membrane with photocatalytic function. Various techniques were adopted to characterize the structure and morphology of PES/GO@TiO 2 photocatalytic membranes, which indicated that GO@TiO 2 was successfully integrated in PES. Contact angle testing proved that the hydrophilicity of PES/GO@TiO 2 photocatalytic membranes was improved with the increase of self-assembled GO@TiO 2 layers. FTIR results indicated that GO@TiO 2 was attached to the pristine PES membrane surface through interfacial interactions in our experimental conditions. And both the thermal stability and mechanical stability of the pristine PES membrane were improved with the incorporation of GO@TiO 2 . Meanwhile, the optimized PES/GO@TiO 2 photocatalytic membranes exhibited a water flux up to 109.8 L/(m 2 h), more than 4 times that of pristine PES membrane, while kept high bovine serum albumin (BSA) rejection of 99.1%, and flux recovery ratio (FRR) of 86.1% in dark condition and the flux almost tripled after about 3 h of UV irradiation. Specially, the photocatalytic activity of PES/GO@TiO 2 photocatalytic membranes increased with an increase of self-assembled GO@TiO 2 layers. When the self-assembled layers of GO@TiO 2 were three, the membrane showed 95.1% of degradation against methylene blue (MB) dye under UV light irradiation. Thus, the prepared PES/GO@TiO 2 photocatalytic membranes can be suggested as an ideal candidate for photocatalytic templates in wastewater treatment. • GO@TiO 2 composite photocatalyst were fabricated via hydrothermal method. • PES/GO@TiO 2 photocatalytic membranes with different self-assembled layers were fabricated via LBL self-assembly technique. • GO@TiO 2 composite photocatalyst and the pristine PES membrane can be connected by hydrogen bonds to ensure awesome stability. • PES/GO@TiO 2 photocatalytic membranes had awesome hydrophilicity and wholesome photocatalytic performance of MB.