Sandwich Nylon/stainless-steel/WO3 membrane for the photoelectrocatalytic removal of Reactive Red 120 dye applied in a flow reactor

Coupling photocatalysis and filtration has emerged as an attractive alternative to improve the performance and minimize effects inherent to current technologies used for wastewater treatment. Herein, we report the preparation of a novel sandwich membrane constituted of a Nylon fiber and a stainless steel mesh with electrodeposited WO3 integrated to photoelectrocatalysis/filtration. The sandwich membrane showed high performance in the photoelectrocatalysis (PEC) treatment of waste water due to synergistic effect of filtration, adsorption and photoelectric processes in a flow reactor. Under optimized conditions, the membrane filtration integrated with photoelectrocatalysis achieved high oxidation rate and adsorption/filtration of the textile dye RR-120. The dye was completely removed after 150 min when an aqueous solution of RR-120 (1 x 10(-5) mmolL(-1)) at pH = 4.0 was flown through the membrane at 160 mL min(-1) with an applied potential of 1.00 V.