Faculty Publications
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Item Removal of toxic arsenic from aqueous media using polyphenylsulfone/cellulose acetate hollow fiber membranes containing zirconium oxide(Elsevier B.V., 2020) Kumar, M.; Isloor, A.M.; Somasekhara Rao, T.; A.F., A.F.; Farnood, R.; Nambissan, P.M.G.Arsenic is one of the highly dangerous metalloid present in the polluted water, it's effective and economical removal is one of the major challenges to the researchers. It was planned to prepare hollow fiber membranes using polyphenylsulfone (PPSU) as a polymer, cellulose acetate (CA) and cellulose acetate phthalate (CAP) as additives with increased dosages (0.6, 1 and 1.5 wt%) of zirconium oxide (ZrO2) nanoparticle. The fabricated hollow fiber membranes were characterized by SEM, AFM, zeta potential, ATR-FTIR and XPS to analyze the membrane's morphologies (cross-section and surface), topography, surface charge and assessment of different functional groups. As used ZrO2 was characterized by TEM and XRD to analyze the morphology and crystallinity. The positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (PALS) analysis was carried out for neat and ZrO2 contained membranes, to study the expansion of free-volume in membrane morphology. Leaching studies of the used zirconium with respect to different pH from the ZrO2 contained hollow fiber membrane was also examined. The enhancement of membrane hydrophilicity was confirmed by contact angle, porosity, water uptake and pure water permeability measurements. Membranes prepared by 1 wt% of ZrO2 in PPSU/CA (PZCA-1) and 0.6 wt% of ZrO2 in PPSU/CAP (PZCAP-0.6) were proved to be efficient as arsenic removal membranes (i.e. PZCA-1 as 87.24% and PZCAP-0.6 as 70.48% and permeability of 89.94 L/m2h bar and 70.59 L/m2h bar respectively) using lab-prepared 1 ppm standard arsenic solution at pH range of 6.8 ± 0.2. Also, there is a decrease in the arsenic removal tendency was observed with the excessive dosages of ZrO2, which is due to the concentration polarization on surfaces of the membranes. Antifouling behavior of the prepared hollow fiber membranes was also studied using bovine serum albumin (BSA). © 2020Item Hydrophilic nano-aluminum oxide containing polyphenylsulfone hollow fiber membranes for the extraction of arsenic (As-V) from drinking water(Elsevier Ltd, 2021) Kumar, M.; Isloor, A.M.; Todeti, S.R.; A.F., A.F.; Farnood, R.In the present work, hollow fiber ultrafiltration membranes were fabricated by incorporating intensified dosages of nano?aluminum oxide (nano-Al2O3; 0.6 wt%, 1.0 wt% and 1.5 wt%) into cellulose acetate (CA)/polyphenylsulfone (PPSU) and cellulose acetate phthalate (CAP)/PPSU by non-solvent induced phase separation (NIPS) process. The topological structures and the morphologies were investigated using atomic force microscope (AFM) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The crystalline and morphological structures of the nano-Al2O3 were investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscope (TEM) respectively. Fourier transform infra-red spectroscope (FTIR) and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis have been carried out to validate the dosages of nano-Al2O3, CA and CAP on PPSU membranes. The membrane's surface charge measurement of 1.5 wt% of nano-Al2O3 in CA/PPSU (ALCA-1.5) was scrutinized by zeta potential analysis. Membranes removed more arsenate oxide as the removal rate from membranes ALCA-1.5 and 1.0 wt% of nano-Al2O3 in CA/PPSU (ALCA-1) was 98.67% and 94.89% with retention permeabilities of 88.41 L/m2h bar and 53.53 L/m2h bar respectively from laboratory prepared 1 ppm of aqueous arsenic solution with pH in the range 6.8 ± 0.2 at 1 bar transmembrane pressure. In addition, membrane's antifouling analysis was performed using laboratory prepared 0.8 g/L (Bovine Serum Albumin) BSA as standard protein solution. © 2021 Elsevier LtdItem Innovative membrane engineering: Polyphenylsulfone/silver-doped zinc oxide for high-efficiency protein rejection(Elsevier B.V., 2025) Panchami, H.R.; Isloor, A.M.; Vijesh, A.M.; Farnood, R.In the present study, the nanocomposite polyphenylsulfone (PPSU) flat sheet membranes containing silver-doped zinc oxide (Ag–ZnO) was synthesized by the dry/wet phase inversion technique. Spectroscopic characterizations confirmed the nanoparticle incorporation into the membrane matrix. Microscopic characterization validates that, Ag–ZnO nanoparticles were distributed uniformly throughout the membrane. The Ag–ZnO modified PPSU membranes were evaluated for their protein rejection performances against BSA, egg albumin and pepsin from their aqueous solutions. PPSU composite membranes with 1.5wt% Ag–ZnO nanoparticles showed enhanced pure water permeability and protein rejection properties compared to the neat membrane. Increased permeability, antifouling nature and rejection of proteins were attributed to the cumulative effects of adding Ag–ZnO nanoparticle into the membrane. The highest protein rejection was exhibited by the membrane AZM-2 for BSA, egg albumin and pepsin were 92.1 %, 86.8 % and 73.4 %, respectively. © 2025 The AuthorsItem High performance 2D molybdenum MXene polyphenylsulfone membranes for boosting water flux and efficient removal of humic acid, antibiotic and dyes from wastewater(Elsevier B.V., 2025) Satishkumar, P.; Isloor, A.M.; Farnood, R.MXene, a leading two-dimensional material, is attracting scientists due to its rich polar surface termination and compatibility. Through the etching of an aluminum layer from Mo3AlC2, we have effectively produced molybdenum MXene Mo3C2Tx (where T stands for polar moieties like –OH and ?F) and used it to fabricate a new Mo3C2Tx embedded mixed matrix membrane. By the incorporation of highly hydrophilic Mo3C2Tx MXene into polyphenylsulfone (PPSU) membrane, its water flux tremendously increased to a peak value of 290 L m-2h?1 and is higher than 300 % compared to pristine polyphenylsulfone membrane without Mo3C2Tx MXene. Water contact angle study of Mo3C2Tx MXene embedded membranes showed improvement in hydrophilicity with an increase in its loading. Mo3C2Tx-PPSU membrane demonstrated appreciable antifouling nature and pollutant separation efficacy. The optimal membrane revealed 98.68 %, 96.7 %, 84.72 %, and 80.2 % removal of toxic contaminants like humic acid, RB 5 dye, RO 16 dye, and tetracycline antibiotic, respectively. This study offers a novel Mo3C2Tx embedded polyphenylsulfone membrane for wastewater treatment that eliminates potentially harmful humic acid, antibiotics, and dyes. © 2025