Effect of chemically activated natural vermiculite nanosheets on the performance of mixed matrix polyethersulfone membranes

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

In this study, natural raw vermiculite (RVMT) nanosheets, as an accessible and economic mineral, werechemically activated and used to modify polyethersulfone (PES) membranes. In this way, RVMT wasmodified with acid (AVMT) and cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB, OVMT) to increase its hydrophilicfunctional groups and dispersion properties. Various characterization methods, such as XRD andFTIR, verified the successful preparation of AVMT and OVMT. PES polymeric membranes’ properties wereimproved by the utilization of these additives. The fabrication of AVMT and OVMT/PES mixed matrixmembranes with different quantities (0–1 wt.%) was carried out by a non-solvent-induced phase separationprocedure. The asymmetric structure of the membranes was confirmed by SEM images. By modifyingthe matrix of the PES membranes, the porosity of the obtained membranes was improved from 60.50to 84.92 and 85.09% in the presence of AVMT and OVMT, respectively. Furthermore, the flux of the PESmixed matrix membranes containing 0.5 wt.% AVMT and OVMT were enhanced from 201.76 to 315.89and 272.07 L/m2 h with an improved flux recovery ratio of 51.81 and 49.15%, respectively.