Effect of sonochemical synthesized TiO2 nanoparticles and coagulation bath temperature on morphology, thermal stability and pure water flux of asymmetric cellulose acetate membranes prepared via phase inversion method

In this study, asymmetric pure CA and CA/ TiO2 composite membranes were prepared via phase inversion by dispersing TiO2 nanopaticles in the CA casting solutions induced by immersion precipitation in water coagulation bath. TiO2 nanoparticles, which were synthesized by the sonochemical method, were added into the casting solution with different concentrations. Effects of TiO2 nanoparticles concentration (0 wt. %, 5wt.%, 10wt.%, 15wt.%, 20wt.% and 25wt.%) and coagulation bath temperature (CBT= 25°C, 50°C and 75°C) on morphology, thermal stability and pure water flux (PWF) of the prepared membranes were studied and discussed. Increasing TiO2 concentration in the casting solution film along with higher CBT resulted in increasing the membrane thickness, water content (WC), membrane porosity and pure water flux (PWF), also these changes facilitate macrovoids formation. Thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) shows that thermal stability of the composite membranes were improved by the addition of TiO2 nanopaticles. Also TGA results indicated that increasing CBT in each TiO2 concentration leads to the decreasing of decomposition temperature (Td) of hybrid membranes.