Preparation and characterization of carboxyl multi-walled carbon nanotubes/calcium alginate composite hydrogel nano-filtration membrane

Abstract Carboxyl multi-walled carbon nanotubes/calcium alginate (CMWCNT/CA) composite hydrogel nano-filtration membrane was prepared using polyethylene glycol 400 as the pore-forming agent. The membrane was characterized by SEM, TEM and FT-IR. And the strength, anti-fouling property and dye rejection were investigated. Results showed that the CMWCNT/CA membrane had a high tensile strength up to 1.83 MPa. The flux of bovine serum albumin (BSA) solution was 96.87% of the pure water flux (PWF), indicating that the membrane exhibited good anti-fouling property. Even after the saturated adsorption, the rejection for Congo red still reached 98.62%.