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Poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF)/titanium dioxide (TiO2) hybrid membranes were prepared using nano-TiO2 as the modifier, and characterized by Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscope (SEM), atomic force microscope (AFM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The characterization results demonstrated that nano-sized TiO2 particles dispersed homogeneously within the PVDF matrix, contributing to more hydroxyls and smoother surfaces. Moreover, permeate flux, retention factor, porosity, contact angle and anti-fouling tests were carried out to evaluate the effect of TiO2 concentration on the performance of PVDF membranes. Among all the prepared membranes, PVDF/TiO2 membrane containing 10？vol.% TiO2 exhibited the best hydrophilicity with an average pure water flux up to 237？L·m？2·h？1, higher than that of unmodified PVDF membranes (155？L·m？2·h？1). Besides, the bovine serum albumin rejection of the hybrid membrane was improved evidently from 52.3% to 70.6%, and the contact angle was significantly lowered from 83° to 60°, while the average pore size and its distribution became smaller and narrower. |
