Synthesis of highly stable Fe2O3-TiO2 Polysulfone membrane with solar light induced photocatalytic activation of peroxymonosulfate and self-cleaning properties

In this study, high stable TiO₂-Fe₂O₃ incorporated polysulfone (MFT) membranes were fabricated by phase inversion technique. This research significantly investigated the photocatalytic performance of the synthesized membranes for the degradation of a textile dye Rhodamine-B (RhB), both under the dark and solar irradiation. The addition of 0.15 wt% TiO₂ and 0.15 wt% Fe₂O₃ as co-doped to the PSF membrane produced remarkable findings. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and x-ray diffraction (XRD) spectroscopy endorsed that TiO₂ and Fe₂O₃ were uniformly dispersed on the synthesized membrane's surface. The synthesized membrane demonstrated the effective adsorption of RhB dye under dark and exhibited 95.7 % degradation of RhB via solar light. The degradation efficacy of RhB was further enhanced to 97 % with the addition of peroxymonosulfate (HSO₅⁻) against the degradation of RhB. Furthermore, the synthesized membrane has proven continued enhancements in photocatalytic degradation and reusability. Furthermore, the experiments confirming the involvement of free radicals in the degradation process showed that the photo-degradation was predominantly driven by ^•OH and SO₄^•–. Moreover, under solar light, the synthesized membrane proven 86 % outstanding rejection of RhB and rapid photocatalytic self-cleaning capabilities. The MFT membrane has an apparent porosity of about 74.32 % and an average pore size of 0.048 μm. The resulting degradation of products and the corresponding toxicity evaluation indicated that the proposed system is environmentally friendly and cost effective in nature. This work presents a highly active nanocomposite membrane towards degradation of organic pollutants with self-cleaning properties effective recyclability.