Catalytic membrane- based water treatment technology is subjected to the permeance-reactivity trade-off and unsatisfactory antifouling performance. In this study, a new type Cu-N-C catalytic membrane (CNC) was fabricated by loading Cu-N-C peroxymonosulfate (PMS) catalyst onto both the Al2O3 ceramic membrane (CM) surface and its internal pores, aiming to simultaneously enhance permeability, catalytic efficacy and antifouling ability of membrane for improved water treatment. The content of the Cu-N coordination structure (Cu-Nx) was adjusted to research its impact on water treatment. Results showed that Cu introduction significantly enhanced the permeability, pollutant removal efficiency and fouling mitigation of CNC catalytic membrane. The CNC2/PMS system containing most Cu-Nx performed best with almost 100% sulfamethoxazole (SMX) removal within a short residence time of 2.2 min, whose SMX removal efficiency was 2.2 or 2.1 times greater than that of the N-doped carbon/PMS system or CNC2 filtration alone. CNC2/PMS system also exhibited efficient membrane fouling resistance with only less than 5.0% flux loss, thanks to the Cu-induced foulant repulsion and PMS catalytic oxidation. Additionally, CNC2/PMS system maintained high performance over 60 h of continuous operation. The Cu-Nx served as the main active site towards PMS activation for reactive species production (primarily surface-bound SO4•- and •OH). The superior catalytic performance of CNC mainly stemmed from the reversible valence cycling of Cu in catalytic layer, in which both PMS and N-doped carbon donated electrons towards Cu center to faciliitated Cu2+-to-Cu+ converion for sustained PMS activation.
Keywords: Antifouling; Cu-N-C; Membrane filtration; Peroxymonosulfate activation; Water treatment.
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