Fabrication and Characterization of TiO2 Nanowire Membrane for Water and Energy Production

  • Xiwang Zhang, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
  • Alan Jianhong Du, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
  • James O'Leckie, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, School of Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, United States

    • Nanotechnology has great potential in water and energy applications by offering more precise structural controlled materials for such needs. Titanium oxide (TiO2) nanosized particle is a popular photocatalyst which attract much attention from both fundamental research and practical application. Dramatic effects have been added in this area by many researchers. Using nano-structured TiO2 microsphere(1-4), TiO2 compositing membrane(5,6). Recently, immense efforts (6-11) are devoted to the study of organizing of nanowire/fiber/tube into free standing membrane or sheet.

    Given the potential of nanofabricated membrane to advance molecular separation, photocatalytic oxidation and photovoltaic, we have developed a robust and inexpensive TiO2 nanowire membrane by filtration of TiO2 nanowires suspension. We herein first time report the use of TiO2 nanowire membrane for the removal of HA in water and solar cell application. The membrane perspectives in practical application were investigated by evaluating its ability of photodegradation. The advantages of the TiO2 nanowire membrane are: (1) full surface exposure to UV or solar light for self-regeneration, which effectively eliminates the membrane fouling problem; (2) concurrent membrane filtration for separation purpose; (3) high surface area, which allows higher adsorption rate of NOMs for improving water quality, dye for DSSC and hydrogen production; (4) higher acid/basic and temperature resistance; (5) environmentally friendly and longer membrane life span; (6) flexible property which enables the membrane to be formed into various membrane modules for larger commercial application. These unique properties give rise to the water and energy industry particularly in producing cost effective commercial filtration membrane that could dramatically reduce the cost of water and energy production.

    Reference
    (1) Yu, J. C.; Ho, W.; Lin, J.; Yip, H.; Wong, P. K. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2003, 37, 2296-2301.
    (4) Zhaoyang Liu; Sun, D.; Guo, P.; Leckie, J. Chemistry - A European Journal 2007, 13, 1851-1855.
    (5) Zhang, X.; Wang, Y.; Li, G. Journal of Molecular Catalysis A: Chemical 2005, 237, 199-205.
    (6) Choi, H.; Sofranko, A. C.; Dionysious, D. D. Advanced Functional Materials 2006, 16, 1067-1074.
    (7) Bae, T. H.; Kim, I. C.; Tak, T. M. Journal of Membrane Science 2006, 275, 1-5.
    (8) Gang Gu; Michael Schmid; Po-wen Chiu; Andrew Minett; Jerome Fraysse; Gyu- tae Kim, S. R.; Mikhail Kozlov; Edgar Munoz; Baughman., R. H. Nature Materials 2003, 2, 316-319.
    (9) Wu, Z.; Chen, Z.; Du, X.; Logan, J. M.; Sippel, J.; Nikolou, M.; Kamaras, K.; Reynolds, J. R.; Tanner, D. B.; Hebard, A. F.; Rinzler, A. G. Science 2004, 305, 1273-1276.
    (10) Endo, M.; Muramatsu, H.; Hayashi, T.; Kim, Y. A.; Terrones, M.; Dresselhaus, M. S. Nature 2005, 433, 476-476.
    (11) Zhang, M.; Fang, S.; Zakhidov, A. A.; Lee, S. B.; Aliev, A. E.; Williams, C. D.; Atkinson, K. R.; Baughman, R. H. Science 2005, 309, 1215-1219.