A novel mixed matrix polysulfone membrane for enhanced ultrafiltration and photocatalytic self-cleaning performance.

Photocatalytic materials can be used as self-cleaning functional materials to alleviate the irreversible fouling of ultrafiltration membranes. In this work, the small size g-CN/BiMoO (SCB) blended polysulfone (PSF) ultrafiltration membranes was fabricated by hydrothermal and phase inversion methods. As a functional filler of ultrafiltration membranes, the small size g-CN nanosheet decorated on the surface of BiMoO can enhance the photocatalytic performance for bovine serum albumin (BSA) degradation, and remove irreversible fouling under visible light irradiation. In addition, the introduction of SCB microspheres into PSF matrix obviously increased the porosity of ultrafiltration membranes. Therefore, the SCB-PSF ultrafiltration membranes displayed excellent antifouling performance (flux recovery ratio is 82.53%) and BSA rejection rates (94.77%). SCB-PSF also had high photocatalytic self-cleaning activity, indicating excellent application prospects in organic wastewater treatment.