Polyethersulfone/coreshell-Fe₃O₄/ZnO Membranes for the Efficient Removal of Salts and Pb(II) from Environmental Wastewater

Rapid population growth, expanding industries, and relentless economic development contribute significantly to water contamination which is a major obstacle to achieving sustainable quality water. The increasing presence of water contamination like heavy metals, salts and industrial effluents exacerbates the global water crisis, demanding advanced water filtration solutions. Therefore, the architectural evaluation for effective performance of nanofiltration (NF) membranes is of paramount importance. NF technology offers a promising avenue due to its ability to remove multivalent ions, organic and micro -pollutants efficiently while operating at relatively low pressure compared reverse osmosis (RO). This study focuses on the morphological structure, analysis of chemical composition, permeation and rejection of Polyethersulfone/coreshell-Fe₃O₄/ZnO membranes. The SEM images showed porous, interconnected tunnels and finger-like morphological structures of NF membranes. The water uptake, porosity and thickness contributed to the performance of the membranes. The contact angle of the membranes was improved significantly with the incremental addition of trimesoyl chloride. 0.50 wt % of PES/Fe₃O₄/ZnO was highly hydrophilic with a contact angle of 55.22˚. This membrane also offered maximum rejection of Na₂SO₄ (50.91 %)_, NaCl (52.64 %), and 80.39 % Pb(II) rejection . In addition, this study highlights that the synergistic effects of the pore-former, solvent evaporation time, metal oxides and monomers are crucial for effective performance of nanofiltration membranes.