Hierarchical heteroarchitectures functionalized membrane for high efficient water purification

• Heterojunctioned architectures functionalized membrane for water purification.
• An environment-friendly and cost-effective “win–win” technology.
• Heterojunction between SrTiO3 and TiO2 and 1D fiber structure.
• High photodegradation ability.
• Constant high flux and high removal efficiency for sustainable water purification.

Heterojunctioned architectures were facilely fabricated using hydrothermally treated electrospun TiO2 nanofibers in an alkaline Sr(NO3)2 precursor solution in an electronic oven. TiO2 on the fiber surface was partially dissolved into Ti4+ to react with Sr2+ in favor of the nucleation of SrTiO3 on TiO2 nanofibers, and thus a heterojunction was formed between SrTiO3 and TiO2, which will benefit the improvement of photocatalytic activity. And then a multifunctional membrane was created by functionalizing the surface of commercial cellulose acetate (CA) membrane with heterojunctioned SrTiO3/TiO2 nanofibers. This newly structured membrane exhibited excellent water purification performances in a concurrent photocatalytic membrane filtration system under the irradiation of UV light, because it is able to integrate the advantages of photocatalysis and membrane filtration while minimizes their disadvantages. The high water purification performances in terms of high photodegradation ability and high permeate flux are attributed to the high photocatalytic activity of heterojunctioned SrTiO3/TiO2 nanofibers architectures and their structured porous functional layer favorable for fast water pass through.

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