Functionalized Materials in Membranes for Heavy Metal Capture

Membrane performance can be altered significantly by incorporating functionalized materials. Silica is an attractive material for such experiments because it is easily functionalized and highly solvent resistant. Polysulfone (PSf) and cellulose acetate (CA) are widely studied polymers that are already used in a wide variety of commercial applications. If silica particles were to be functionalized with (3-mercaptopropyl)-trimethoxysilane and incorporated into a PSf membrane, the mixed matrix membrane should be capable of capturing silver (Ag+) from solution, since the thiol has been shown to exhibit a high affinity for Ag+. This study focuses on how silica properties (eg: BET surface area, approximate particle size, pore diameter, etc.) affect the ability of the mixed matrix membrane to capture Ag+. Experiments were conducted using both functionalized and non-functionalized commercial silica at various silica loadings in both PSf and CA membranes.