Fouling propensity and characterization of acetylated methyl cellulose (AMC)-based membrane conjugated with nanoparticles

Abstract

AMC conjugated membranes (AMC/ZnO, AMC/Au and AMC/Zeo) were fabricated under mild reaction conditions for the usage of protein separation and their fouling propensities were evaluated. Mean pore size of the AMC conjugated membranes were evaluated with the size based separation efficiency of polyethylene glycol. The structural characterization by XPS and XRD elucidated the formation of strong bond such as -C=OO-HZnO, -C=OO-HAu, and -C=OO-HZeo reactive sites of AMC conjugated membranes. The AMC/ZnO membrane exhibited high rejection efficiency (94%) and high adsorption capacity. The excellent fouling resisting capacity of AMC conjugated membranes was related to the surface roughness, free energy hydration, and surface morphology. The method proposed in this study shows that the fabrication is simple but give excellent anti-fouling property to the membranes.