Sawunyama Lawrence, Oyewo Opeyemi A, Makgato Seshibe S, Bopape Mokgadi F, Onwudiwe Damian C
Materials Science Innovation and Modelling (MaSIM) Research Focus Area, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, Private Bag X2046, Mmabatho, 2735, South Africa.
Department of Chemistry, School of Physical and Chemical Sciences, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, Private Bag X2046, Mmabatho, 2735, South Africa.
Discov Nano. 2025 Jan 3;20(1):1. doi: 10.1186/s11671-024-04178-3.
Hybrid wastewater treatment systems offer viable solutions to enhance the removal of complicated contaminants from aqueous system. This innovation has opened new avenues for advanced wastewater treatment processes. Herein, a novel TiO-ZnO functionalized coal fly ash-based ceramic membrane was fabricated by utilizing a combined pressing and sintering method. The intrinsic properties of the functionalized membranes were characterized and their chemical and physical properties such as chemical stability, mechanical stability, water absorption, and porosity were established. The shape, crystallinity, thermal characteristics, and functional groups present were also determined using SEM, XRD, TGA, and FTIR studies, respectively. The results showed that the ceramic membrane functionalized with 0.5 g of TiO-ZnO and sintered at 850 °C exhibited the best thermal, and chemical stability, and possessed the required porosity for ultrafiltration applications. Photocatalytic degradation of tetracycline (TC) as a model pollutant was examined and the optimum efficiency of 77% was achieved within 100 min of visible irradiation using the functionalized membrane. Moreso, the functionalized membrane was found to be stable with 73% degradation efficiency after 5 consecutive cycles of reusability study, showing negligible loss of efficiency. The scale-up of photocatalytic ceramic membranes and their utilization in real industrial applications will confirm their robustness.
混合废水处理系统为增强从水系统中去除复杂污染物提供了可行的解决方案。这一创新为先进的废水处理工艺开辟了新途径。在此，通过采用压制和烧结相结合的方法制备了一种新型的TiO-ZnO功能化粉煤灰基陶瓷膜。对功能化膜的固有特性进行了表征，并确定了它们的化学和物理性质，如化学稳定性、机械稳定性、吸水性和孔隙率。还分别使用扫描电子显微镜（SEM）、X射线衍射（XRD）、热重分析（TGA）和傅里叶变换红外光谱（FTIR）研究确定了膜的形状、结晶度、热特性和存在的官能团。结果表明，用0.5 g TiO-ZnO功能化并在850℃烧结的陶瓷膜表现出最佳的热稳定性和化学稳定性，并具有超滤应用所需的孔隙率。以四环素（TC）作为模型污染物进行了光催化降解研究，使用功能化膜在可见光照射100分钟内实现了77%的最佳降解效率。此外，在连续5次重复使用性研究后，发现功能化膜稳定，降解效率为73%，效率损失可忽略不计。光催化陶瓷膜的放大生产及其在实际工业应用中的利用将证实其耐用性。
