A self-cleaning and photocatalytic cellulose-fiber- supported "Ag@AgCl@MOF-cloth" membrane for complex wastewater remediation

Membrane technology is one of the most promising technologies for wastewater remedy. However, it remains challenging to prepare high-performance membrane matrix for complex pollutants, e.g. containing both oil and organic dye. In this work, we facilely fabricate a cellulose-fiber-supported MOF photocatalytic membrane, namely Ag@AgCl@MIL-100(Fe)/CCF, which was prepared via carboxymethylation of cotton fabric (CCF) as scaffold and in-situ synthesis of MOF derivative as photocatalyst. The carboxymethylation significantly improves the hydrophilicity of cotton fabric and the deposition amount of MIL-100(Fe). The high hydrophilicity of modified CCF and porous MIL-100(Fe) further enable the membrane with an efficient adsorption capacity of dyes and underwater oleophobicity against oils. The photocatalysts Ag@AgCl nanoparticles anchored onto MIL-100(Fe) promote the photocatalytic activity. As a result, the membrane shows simultaneous high removal efficiency towards dyes (97.3 %) and oils (99.64 %). Additionally, thanks to the good photocatalytic activity against organic pollutants, the membrane exhibits excellent self-cleaning and a long-term reuse capacity.