The curtain hollow fiber photocatalytic membrane module fabricated from WO3/g-C3N4/CNTs composite material exhibits the filtration-adsorption-photocatalysis synergistic effect

Membrane separation technology is a selective physical separation method that is widely used in the fields of wastewater reuse and recycling. However, its separation effect on small molecules in pollutants is not ideal. In this study, the negative pressure filtration method was adopted, combining membrane separation with photocatalytic technology to prepare a sandwich-structured WO 3 /g-C 3 N 4 /CNTs curtain hollow fiber photocatalytic membrane module with. By changing the experimental conditions, membrane anti-pollution property, stability and self-cleaning ability of the membrane module were studied under visible light irradiation. Through characterizations, it was found that when WCN/CNTs = 2:1 and pH = 12, the degradation rate of MB by the membrane module after 4 h of using was still 89.47%, which was 42.60 times higher than that of pure PVDF membrane module, and the water flux recovery rate (FRR) was as high as 98.21%. Stability experiments show that the degradation rate and flux of this membrane module remain stable at various pH levels, and the FRR values are all above 96.80%, while the FRR value of pure PVDF membrane modules is only 72.94%. This study provides a new idea for the preparation of semiconductor-based composite photocatalytic membranes with high self-cleaning ability and photocatalytic activity in the field of wastewater treatment.