Photodegration of Methylene Blue by PLA/TiO₂ Composite Membranes Prepared by the Phase Inversion Method

Fresh drinking water in the environment is scarce due to the contamination of water bodies by pollutants such as dyes, pharmaceuticals, heavy metals, and other industrial waste. Dyes have been a major concern in industries, especially the textile, paper, and tile production industries. When these dyes are deposited in the environment, they cause various issues, including cancer and disrupt photosynthesis. They are resistant to the oxidizing agent and heat because they do not undergo biodegradation. Therefore, the ability to remove them from the environment has become a serious problem. This project deals with the preparation of biodegradable PLA/TiO₂ composites prepared by the phase inversion method for the photocatalysis of methylene blue. The composite membrane produced was characterised by FTIR to determine the functional groups of the membrane. SEM was used to identify the morphology of these porous membranes. The thermal properties of the composite membrane were determined by TGA and DSC. The adsorption of methylene blue and the photodegradation of the dyes were carried out at room temperature for 80 mins at 10 mins interval. The adsorption by the pure PLA was higher than that of the composite membrane throughout the 180 min time period. The composites containing 10 wt. % TiO₂ showed the highest dye removal.