Carbon Nanotube/Alumina/Polyethersulfone Hybrid Hollow Fiber Membranes with Enhanced Mechanical and Anti-Fouling Properties

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were incorporated into alumina/polyethersulfone hollow fibre membranes to enhance the mechanical property and the efficiency of water treatment. Results show that the incorporation of CNTs can greatly limit the formation of large surface pores, decrease the void size in support layers and improve the porosity and pore connectivity of alumina/polyethersulfone membranes. As a result of such morphology change and pore size change, both improved flux and rejection were achieved in such CNTs/alumina/polyethersulfone membranes. Moreover, the CNTs/alumina/PES membranes show higher antifouling ability and the flux recoveries after being fouled by bovine serum albumin (BSA) and humic acid were improved by 84.1% and 53.2% compared to the samples without CNT incorporation. Besides the improvement in water treatment performance, the incorporation of CNTs enhanced the tensile properties of inorganic/polymer membranes. Therefore, such CNTs/alumina/PES hollow fiber membranes are very promising candidates for good filter media in industry, considering their high efficiency and high mechanical properties.