Faculty Publications

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Efficient removal of hazardous dyes/heavy-metal ions by in-house fabricated poly (vinylidene fluoride) thin-film nanocomposite membranes with functionalized Zr-based metal-organic framework
(Elsevier Ltd, 2025) Prabhakar, N.; Isloor, A.M.; Farnood, R.; A.F., A.F.
The need for effective solutions to address removal of dyes and heavy metal ions from water has driven significant interest in membrane science and separation technology. This work explores the potential of EDTA-modified MOF-808 as a novel additive to enhance the performance of PVDF supported TFC membranes. The innovation lies in aiming the unique properties of MOF and the chelating properties of EDTA in rejecting the target pollutants. The thin film nanocomposite membranes fabricated in this study with optimized MOF-EDTA loading demonstrated remarkable improvement in hydrophilicity, surface smoothness, porosity, and morphology as confirmed by water contact angle, atomic force microcopy, water uptake, and scanning electron microscopy. The optimized membrane with 0.1wt% MOF-808-EDTA exhibited a water flux of 37.36 Lm-2h-1, a 2.7-fold increment compared to the unmodified one. This was complemented by 98.6%, 91.48%, 88.7%, and 88.96% rejections in hazardous heavy metal ions namely lead, arsenite, cadmium and mercury respectively along with more than 95% rejections for 50ppm of sunset yellow and reactive black 5 dyes. The study also highlights the significant enhancement in antifouling properties with a reduction in irreversible fouling from 41.5% to 5.68% along with a flux rejection ratio of 94.3%. These findings underscore the potential of EDTA-modified MOF as an additive in enhancing the performance and durability of TFC membranes paving the way for efficient and sustainable water treatment. The current study explores an innovative approach for mitigating heavy metal ion and dye pollution in water via fabrication of. © 2025 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Fabrication and incorporation of MIL-53(Fe)-zwitterionic brushes into PVDF thin film composite membranes for enhancing heavy metal/dye rejection from aqueous body
(Elsevier B.V., 2025) Prabhakar, N.; Isloor, A.M.; Farnood, R.; Fauzi Ismail, A.
The bioaccumulation of heavy metal ions is a serious concern for researchers. The dyes and heavy metal ions also aquatic life impacting the biodiversity adversely. Synthesis of novel MIL-53(Fe)-PSBMA particles, and its incorporation into PVDF-based thin-film composite membranes is the crux of this work. Firstly, H2N-MIL-53(Fe) was synthesized by metal displacement reaction which was then modified into MIL-53(Fe)-PSBMA brushes. The brushes were synthesized by atom transfer radical polymerization method. The amine groups of the NH2-MIL-53(Fe) help connecting the MOF to the polymeric moiety. The as-synthesized material and the fabricated TFCs were characterized by BET, FTIR, XRD, XPS, TGA, AFM, FE-SEM, zeta potential, and DLS particle sizer. The presence of sulphur groups on the XPS spectrum of modified MOF ensured the successful polymer grafting on it. Zwitterionic moieties have both positive and negative charges within a single molecule which gave a resultant zeta potential of ?13.1 mV for the brushes. A pure water flux of 26.32 Lm?2 h?1 and 97.33 %, 95.19 %, 82.06 %, and 78.47 % rejections for Pb2+, Hg2+, As3+, Cd2+ ions and 96.23 % and 94.04 % rejection for 100 ppm reactive black-5 and sunset yellow dyes respectively were obtained for the optimized membrane having 0.035 wt% loading of zwitterionic MOF. This result was attributed to the enhanced membrane hydrophilicity which was also correlated with contact angle and water uptake studies. © 2024 Elsevier B.V.
Sustainable waste water purification via integration of novel COF@UiO-66 dual-layer PVDF/PEI hollow fiber membranes
(Elsevier B.V., 2025) Prabhakar, N.; Isloor, A.M.; Othman, M.H.D.; A.F., A.F.
In the present study, dual-layer (polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF)/ polyether imide (PEI) blend membranes were fabricated by coextrusion technique, with varying loadings (0–1.5 wt%) of covalent organic framework (COF) grafted UiO-66, for dye and heavy metal ion removal. UiO-66-NH2 was chosen for its excellent surface area and water stability, which can enhance the water permeability through the membrane without getting degraded over a period of time. The structures of the synthesized UiO-66-NH2 and COF@UiO-66 were confirmed by characterizations like scanning electron microscopy (SEM), FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy), and XRD (X-ray Diffraction). The membrane fabricated with the synthesized additive in the outer layer, was characterized by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) for the surface topography and morphology. The incorporation of the additive significantly affected the hydrophilicity, porosity, and surface area of the membrane, resulting in improved permeability and rejection, along with imparting relatively good antifouling nature to the membrane. Membrane with outer dope flow rate of 2 mL/min and an optimized loading of the additive (1.0 wt.%) displayed a water permeability of 117.5 Lm?2 h?1 bar?1, whereas the neat membrane showed only 60 Lm?2 h?1 bar?1. The dyes, Congo red and reactive black-5, showed rejections of 99.1 %, and 97.96 % respectively. Whereas, the heavy metal ions mercury and lead showed 69.58 %, and > 99.9 % in the complexed state with humic acid for the optimized membrane, along with a bovine serum albumin (BSA) fouling rejection ratio of 74.22 %. Whereas the neat membrane without the MOF additive showed 89 %, 79 %, 75 %, and 43 % rejections for reactive black 5, congo red, lead, and mercury ions, respectively, with an FRR of only 57 %. © 2025 Elsevier B.V.

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