Visible-light-driven photocatalytic ZnO@Ti3C2Tx MXene nanofiltration membranes for enhanced organic dyes removal

Two-dimensional (2D) Ti 3 C 2 T x MXene nanosheets have been identified as promising for constructing ultrathin laminar nanostructures with nanoscale water transport channels for water purification. Herein, ZnO@Ti 3 C 2 T x MXene nanofiltration (NF) membranes were prepared via coupling ZnO nanoflowers to the Ti 3 C 2 T x MXene-based laminar nanostructure, which exhibited photocatalytic self-cleaning properties driven by visible light for enhanced organic dye removal. The physicochemical properties and NF performance with and without photocatalytic treatment were systematically characterized. The prepared ZnO@Ti 3 C 2 T x MXene NF membrane could reject 95.44% Congo red (CR) and demonstrated an excellent water permeability of 138.81 L·m −2 ·h −1 ·bar −1 (LMH/bar). In comparison to the Ti 3 C 2 T x MXene membrane and the same amount of ZnO powders, the ZnO@Ti 3 C 2 T x MXene membrane demonstrated higher photodegradation performance to 10 ppm MB. Impressively, the membrane showed an enhanced separation performance for 6 cycles with a RhB rejection > 88.48% and a permeability of 138.69 LMH/bar. Lastly, the synergistic photocatalytic mechanism of ZnO@Ti 3 C 2 T x MXene composite nanostructure was investigated. Such results may offer a novel insight for the fabrication of laminar structured Ti 3 C 2 T x MXene-based NF membranes with photocatalytic induced anti-fouling performance for enhanced dye water purification.