A novel paradigm of photocatalytic cleaning for membrane fouling removal

Integration of photocatalysis and membrane separation is a promising approach for foulants degradation due to its energy-saving and high efficiency. However, the widely-studied photocatalytic membranes are still hard to be industrialized because of the difficulty in set-up of light source in the membrane module under high pressure. In this work, visible-light-activated photocatalytic membrane was prepared by loading polyethyleneimine-graphitic carbon nitride (PEI-GCN) on polydopamine (PDA) coated membrane for highly efficient production of H2O2. Fenton-like reaction was triggered upon H2O2 contacting with a separation membrane with FeOOH catalytic layer, which was fabricated via a co-deposition method followed by mineralization. Oxidation of the organic compound was initiated by hydroxyl radicals generated through the Fenton-like reactions in the presence of photogenerated H2O2, thus achieving effective membrane cleaning. This sectional photocatalysis-membrane cleaning technique independent of the separation membrane module offers a possibility for sustainable membrane fouling control in large-scale application.