Surface-constructing of visible-light Bi2WO6/CeO2 nanophotocatalyst grafted PVDF membrane for degradation of tetracycline and humic acid

The synthesis of Bi2WO6 and CeO2 photocatalytic nanomaterials exhibit a great ability to photodegrade the antibiotics and shown excellent oxidation of various organic pollutants. Heterostructure 1:1 & 2:1 Bi2WO6/CeO2 nanocomposite was successfully synthesized via the facile sono-dispersion method and exquisite photocatalytic activity. The 0.5 wt% of nanocomposites were well-grafted on PVDF membrane surface via an in-situ polymerization method using polyacrylic acid. The fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra demonstrated that the network formation in PVDF induced by the -COOH functional group in acrylic acid. The grafted membrane morphology and strong binding ability over the membranes were validated by scanning electron microscope with energy dispersion (SEM-EDS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), respectively. The permeate flux of 49.2 L.m-2 h-1 and 41.65 L.m-2 h were observed for tetracycline and the humic acid solution respectively for 1 wt% of PVP and 0.5 wt% of photocatalytic nanomaterials in PVDF membrane. The tetracycline and humic acid photodegradation rate of 82% and 78% and total resistance of 1.43 × 1010 m-1 and 1.64 × 1010 m-1, 83.5% and 77% flux recovery ratio were observed with N5 membrane. The 2:1 Bi2WO6/CeO2 nanocomposite grafted membrane showed a high permeate flux and better photodegradation ability of organic pollutants in the wastewater.