Polysulfone Membranes With Embedded Palladium Nanoparticles for Catalytic Reduction of 4-nitrophenol

Abstract Enhancing the catalytic activity of supported nanocatalysts is an effective strategy to mitigate costly catalyst separation processes in many industrial processes. In this study, catalytic polysulfone (PS) membranes decorated with in-situ synthesized palladium nanoparticles (PdNPs) were fabricated. The membranes were characterised by SEM, XRD, SAXSpace, FTIR, TEM, AFM, contact angle measurements and EDS. Effect of different amounts of PdNPs on the physicochemical properties, water flux, contact angle and catalytic activity for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) to 4-aminophenol (4-AP) were investigated, and the degradation mechanism proposed. Results showed a uniform dispersion of small (~5 nm) PdNPs in the membrane. Water flux correlated well with increased membrane porosity which was a function of PdNP loading within the membranes. The Pd loaded membranes showed improved hydrophilicity. Very low PdNP loading (1.0 wt %) resulted in about 90% reduction of 4-NP to 4-AP was mainly due to the catalytic effect of PdNPs.