Polymeric photocatalytic membrane: An emerging solution for environmental remediation

This article reviews the recent progresses on polymeric photocatalytic membranes (PPM) for environmental remediation towards the removal of water and air pollutants like CO2, NOx, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), organic and inorganic water pollutants, bacteria, viruses, and pharmaceutical contaminants. The advantages and limitations of different fabrication methods of PPM towards overall performance are demonstrated herein. Focuses are given on the removal efficiency and mechanism for degradation of different pollutants by PPM. Literature advocates that the synthetic (non-renewable) polymers and TiO2 based photocatalysts have been widely used for fabrication of PPM. However, the recent trend of research is to prepare bio-based PPMs for degradation of contaminants in the presence of visible light/sunlight is also mentioned. Finally, the challenges involved for fabrication of such PPMs and their performances in the presence of sunlight are highlighted.