Inorganic nanoparticles embedded polysulfone composite membrane was synthesized through in situ sol-gel phase separation by using inorganic precursor. As displayed in Figure 1, inorganic precursor was mixed with polymer solution and the solution was casted onto a clean glass plate. Then the casted plate was immersed into water bath in order to induce phase separation. Water is a non-solvent of polysulfone which is capable of polymeric phase separation as well as an initiation medium of sol-gel hydrolysis reaction of metal alkoxide precursor. Therefore, when the casted solution was immersed into water bath, sol-gel hydrolysis and polymeric phase separation were simultaneously occurred, resulting in the inorganic-incorporated polymer membrane. During this in-situsol-gel phase separation, polymeric phase could act as a stabilizer for the synthesis of metal oxide nanoparticles, which led the small and well dispersed metal oxide nanoparticles due to the reduced inorganic network. On the other hand, for the preparation of comparative composite membrane using nanoparticles, the nanoparticles agglomerated themselves in the polymer solution even after the additional ultrasonication procedure. Consequently, the inorganic-polymer composite membrane was obtained with large aggregated nanoparticles. Through the STEM, XPS, XRD characterizations, it was confirmed that small amorphous TiO2 nanoparticles were synthesized during the in situ sol-gel phase separation and well dispersed in the polymer membrane matrix. The fabricated composite membrane exhibited two times higher water flux in the forward osmosis application than the unmodified polymer membrane.

Fabrication of forward osmosis membrane with TiO<sub>2</sub> additive through in situ sol-gel phase separation

246th National Meeting (2013)

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Fabrication of forward osmosis membrane with TiO2 additive through in situ sol-gel phase separation

Fabrication of forward osmosis membrane with TiO₂ additive through in situ sol-gel phase separation