Spray coating techniques for fabrication of photocatalytic membrane

Photocatalytic membrane has been adopted for a variety of applications, in the petroleum, pharmaceutical, energy, and water treatment industries. It is made up of photocatalysts that are either surface coated or incorporated into the membrane matrix. The membrane serves as both a selective separation barrier and a substrate for the photocatalysts to remove undesirable pollutants from water. It provides a hybrid solution to the problem encountered by both the membrane separation technology and the photocatalytic process. The development of membrane separation technology requires more innovation in membrane fabrication techniques because it affects the separation performance and physicochemical properties of the prepared membranes and their potential for industrialized application. Spray coating is an emerging technique for fabricating photocatalytic membranes because of its several advantages. The spray coating process involves overlaying or deposition of photocatalytic nanoparticles onto the membrane surface. Thus, this chapter discusses the basic concepts of spray coating techniques for photocatalytic membrane fabrication, various spray coating approaches, recent developments in sprayed separation membrane fabrication, merits, and demerits of these techniques, and areas of future research in fabricating sprayed photocatalytic membranes for efficient separation.