Fabrication and Performance Investigation of Improved Nanocomposite Polyphenylsulfone membranes by Fe3O4 Modified Montmorillonite

Improved polyphenylsulfone nanocomposite membrane with iron oxide modified montmorillonite was prepared by mixing this additive with polymer solution by phase inversion method. In this study, the effect of the additive on membrane performance was investigated. For this purpose, the pure water flux, fouling, rejection of dyes and heavy metals were measured by a filtration cell. The hydrophilicity of membranes was studied by measuring the contact angle of water. The dispersion of additive in the polymer matrix, as well as the membrane morphology, was surveyed by FE-SEM analysis. The results obtained from the above experiments showed that the surface hydrophilicity increased after the incorporation of the modified clay. In addition, pure water permeability, salt rejection, and fouling resistance improved dramatically for the modified membranes.