Fabrication and characterization of silica/titania nanotubes composite membrane with photocatalytic capability

Silica/titania nanotubes composite membranes were successfully prepared from silica/titania sols using porous alumina support membranes. XRD patterns of the composite membranes confirmed that the embedding of amorphous silica into nanophase titania matrix helped to increase the thermal stability of titania which suppressed the phase transformation from anatase to rutile and decreased the size of titania particles. Ninety-five percent of the pore volume of composite membrane was located in mesopores with diameters ranging from 1.4 to 10 nm. The surface of these composite membranes exhibited extremely high affinity for water under UV irradiation with water contact angle decreased from 62 degrees to nearly 5 degrees within 80 min. By coupling membrane separation with photocatalysis technique, the removal efficiency of Direct Black 168 was improved remarkably; being 85% within 100 min, while the values were 66% and 73% with photocatalysis alone or membrane separation alone during the same time, respectively. Good photocatalytic activity and wettability of composite membrane under UV irradiation helped to obtain high permeate flux across the composite membrane. The silica/titania nanotubes composite membrane had the multifunctions of separation, degradation, and improvement of membrane flux in photooxidation of organic contaminants in wastewater.