Polymer-based TiO2 membranes: An efficient route for recalcitrant dye degradation

Methyl orange (MO) is a poisonous, carcinogenic, and genotoxic azo dye with high chemical stability, high solubility in water, and very low biodegradability. The removal is difficult by conventional water purification methods. The degradation of MO with photocatalytic membrane reactors loaded with TiO2 nanoparticles(NPs) is reported in some publications, and the degradation efficiency is less than 50%. The present study presents the use of titanium dioxide nanoparticles deposited on the surface of nanofiltration membranes to assess the photocatalytic degradation of reactive dye. The morphological analyses showed the presence of a thin titanium dioxide layer on the surface of the membranes. In addition, the photocatalytic membranes with 0.25 wt% of TiO2 showed an interesting photocatalytic activity over four hours, with 82.3% of the MO degraded. The degradation followed a pseudo-second-order kinetics model, and the reusability of the prepared membranes was also verified.