Membrane separation has attracted increasing attention as a promising water treatment/purification technology, but suffers from membrane fouling as well as the trade-off between selectivity and permeability. By integrating with electrochemistry, the electro-conductive nanocarbon membranes exhibited significant improvement in separation performance. The organic matters, particular trace organic matters, can be degraded timely by electrochemical oxidation. When the applied bias was +1.5 V vs. Ag/AgCl, the removal efficiency of phenol reached to 98% compared to 14% by membrane alone. On the other hand, the electrostatic repulsion is found to be capable of mitigating charged foulants toward to membrane surface and improving fouling resistance. The permeate flux was improved by ~32% on the electrochemically assisted nanocarbon membranes during waterborne pathogen and natural organic matter co-existing in the feed water. Importantly, such electrochemical assistance can be also performed on the non-pressure driven membrane processes, such as inhibiting pore wetting in membrane distillation and concentration polarization in forward osmosis. Therefore, electrochemically assisted membrane separation opens a novel avenue to address the global water crisis.<br/>

Electrochemically Enhanced Separation Performance of Nanocarbon-based Membranes

2019 Spring National Meeting

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