Integration of CO/PES support modules for enhancement of modified-chitosan filtration membranes

The impact of plain cotton (CO) and polyester (PES) fabric support modules on the filtration performance of chitosan/silver nanoparticles/graphene oxide (CS/AgNP/GO) was determined in this study. The experimental results revealed that both the CO and PES fabrics can successfully serve as support modules for CS/AgNP/GO composite membranes, increase water permeability, and effectively improve the filtration process. The CO fabric-supported membranes displayed more irregular and non-uniform cross-sectional intensities, while the polymer membranes with PES support showed a relatively smoother and more evenly distributed cross-sectional structure. However, the effectiveness of the membrane separation process depends on effective molecular interaction between the composite structure and the support materials. Although both fabric- supported modules improved membrane wettability adequately, the CO is more hydrophilic than the PES of approximately the same thickness. This was attributed to higher wettability and capillary pore sizes within the molecular structure of the CO-supported membrane, which gave higher water absorbency of 24.7% than the PES-supported modified CS composite over the same duration of time, confirming greater adhesive force with improved hydrophilicity. The improved chemical bonding between the CS composite and the support modules resulted in an increase in mechanical properties. The maximum tensile strength of 48.46 MPa was attained by the CO-supported composite, followed by the PES-supported modified CS filtration membrane (43.73 MPa), while the non-fabric-supported membrane exhibited the lowest tensile strength of 43.73 MPa with the highest elongation at break (64.2%).