CTF/TiB2 superhydrophilic functionalized membrane as the advanced treatment for effective typical pharmaceutical removal and membrane self-cleaning

Water contact angle of 1:2 CTF/TiB 2 superhydrophilic functionalized membrane is 3.6° • Schottky junction was formed with the combination of TiB 2 and CTF • Reactive species of •OH and 1 O₂ under simulated sunlight irradiation was produced • Excellent a self-cleaning characteristics and high permeability was achieved • Real secondary effluent application validated the practical use of this membrane Membrane separation is promising for emerging contaminants removal as an advanced treatment process, but most of the photocatalytic membrane is hydrophobic with severe fouling and permeability loss after filtration. Herein, a novel superhydrophilic CTF/TiB 2 functionalized membrane was developed, which can efficiently remove typical pharmaceutical pollutants with self-cleaning characteristics. The water contact angle of the pristine membrane dramatically reduced from 76.6° to 3.6° with CTF/TiB 2 (mass ratio 1:2) incorporation. The optimized 1:2 CTF/TiB 2 membrane demonstrated outstanding performance for typical pharmaceutical contaminants, achieving high removal efficiencies of 92% for trimethoprim (TMP) and > 97% for chloroquine (CLQ). Mechanistic studies reveal that the CTF/TiB 2 modified membrane exhibits outstanding chemical adsorption properties, enriching pollutants on the membrane surface with an adsorption capacity of 73.16 mg/g. The Schottky junction formed by the modified membrane, as evidenced by band structure analysis and DFT calculations, efficiently generates reactive species including •OH and 1 O₂ under simulated sunlight irradiation, facilitating photocatalytic degradation of pollutants both on the membrane surface and in the aqueous solution. The functionalized membrane also showed excellent self-cleaning characteristics with lower membrane fouling propensity and stable permeability. Furthermore, the successful treatment of real secondary effluent validated the practical potential of this functionalized membrane. Overall, this work successfully fabricates a novel CTF/TiB 2 multifunctional catalytic membrane with effective typical pharmaceutical removal and self-cleaning features, suggesting that it is a promising advanced wastewater treatment technology. Download: Download high-res image (301KB) Download: Download full-size image