Low-temperature titanium(IV) oxide synthesis on polymeric membrane

Abstract

Standards of living has been increasing as the world progresses. Concurrently, the needs for clean water is similarly closely related to the standards of living. Water is one of the most important aspects of human lives and membrane technology is a solution towards clean water. By using electrospinning, we have spun the membrane made up of Polysulfone, and Titanium(IV) Oxide P25. By varying the percentage of PSF, we try to determine the ideal percentage of ingredients, materials and conditions needed to produce the ideal composition before beginning the hydrothermal process. There were many roadblocks along the way for the hydrothermal process, the main roadblock would be synthesis temperature for the hydrothermally grown Titanium(IV) Oxide nanorods. Due to the low melting point of Polysulfone, the electrospun membrane would melt if the hydrothermal process was too high. The results have shown that growing Titanium(IV) Oxide nanorods hydrothermally in a Duran bottle shows the best results by placing the solution in the oven for 16 hours at 130°C. Further test such as photocatalytic oxidation and self-cleaning of the membrane could be carried out the have a more comprehensive overview on the performance of the membrane.