Removal of bisphenol A from synthetic and treated sewage wastewater using magnetron sputtered CuxO/PVDF thin film photocatalytic hollow fiber membrane

Flexible hollow fiber polymeric membrane based thin film substrate sputtered with thin layer photocatalyst is a novel configuration for photocatalytic applications. This article focuses on the fabrication of copper oxide/polyvinylidene fluoride thin film hollow fiber membrane (CuxO/PVDF TF HFM) by using radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering of CuxO over PVDF hollow fiber membrane (HFM). Different phase of copper oxide (CuxO) detected on the layer of PVDF HFM by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and attenuated total reflectance Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) and confirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), depending on oxygen flow rate. 10–20 mL/min O2 flow rate produces Cu2O phase while 25 and 30 mL/min produces CuO phase. Sputtered Cu2O/PVDF TF HFM at 20 mL/min O2 shows bigger grain size of 2.1 nm with 0.35 nm of dislocation density and 0.019 nm of lattice strain. The higher the O2 flow rate, the thicker and the more uniform the sputtered CuxO/PVDF TF HFM was produced as indicated by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). The atomic force microscopy (AFM) analysis showed the increasing surface roughness of the sputtered 10 mL/min CuxO/PVDF TF HFM at 8.26 nm, as compared to the neat PVDF HFM at 6.15 nm. About 74 % of 2 mg/L bisphenol A (BPA) in synthetic wastewater was successfully photodegraded and filtered while outstanding 91 % removal of BPA in real treated sewage wastewater achieved using 20 mL/min Cu2O/PVDF TF HFM after 360 min light irradiation. About 71.33 % of regeneration efficiency was achieved after 3 consecutive cycles that this technique promises the good reusability with strong adhesion capability.