Application of Atomic Layer Deposition on Ceramic Nanofiltration Membrane

More Info
expand_more

Abstract

Pressure driven membranes have become increasingly popular in removal of natural organic matter (NOM). With the purpose to tailor pore size of membrane to remove NOM effectively, atomic layer deposition (ALD) was applied on the ceramic nanofiltration (NF) membrane with a pore size of 1.3 nm. Ceramic membranes were chosen as the substrate membrane due to their high physical strength and high chemical resistance. TiO2 was deposited on the membrane by using TiCl4 and H2O as precursors. After deposition with 3 cycles, MWCO of the ceramic membranes was reduced by ~ 250 Da. The pore size of the ceramic membranes was correspondingly narrowed down by ~ 0.16 nm. The growth per cycle of TiO2 on the pore walls was ~ 0.272 nm/cycle. An improved Carman-Kozeny model was used to estimate water permeability. With the help of two scenarios, the model results are close to the results from water permeability experiments that the water permeability decreased from ~ 24 퐿 h%& m%( bar%& to ~ 6 퐿 h%& m%( bar%&. The application of the fabricated membrane in water treatment could be investigated in the further study.