Preparation of microfiltration membrane with good conductivity and its antifouling performance

Membrane fouling restricts the widespread adoption and application of membrane separation technology. Electrically assisted membrane filtration has proven effective in mitigating this issue. The development of conductive membranes is crucial in this process. In this study, graphene oxide (GO), titanium dioxide (TiO2), and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) were incorporated into polypyrrole/polyvinylidene fluoride (PPy/ PVDF) to create the composite conductive membranes GO/PPy/PVDF, TiO2/PPy/PVDF and MWCNT/PPy/PVDF. These membranes demonstrated strong acid resistance, but lacked resistance to strong alkali corrosion. The hydrophilicity of the composite membranes improved compared to that of PPy/PVDF, with the TiO2/PPy/PVDF membrane exhibiting the highest hydrophilicity, evidenced by a contact angle of only 57.52 degrees. The membrane conductivity of MWCNT/PPy/PVDF significantly increased, being 3.27 times that of the PPy/PVDF membrane, due to the inherent excellent conductivity of MWCNT and the increased electron transfer channels. Among the membranes tested, the TiO2/PPy/PVDF membrane, with outstanding hydrophilicity, achieved a water flux of up to 1085 L & sdot;h- 1m- 2. It also showed superior antifouling characteristics, with a high flux recovery rate (97.10 %) and a low irreversible fouling rate (2.90 %) when tested against bovine serum albumin and sodium alginate as foulants.