High conductive PPy–CNT surface-modified PES membrane with anti-fouling property

Membrane fouling limits membrane performance and membrane applications. Changing the membrane surface properties may effectively alleviate membrane fouling. Preparing conductive membranes is an efficient way to achieve this goal. In this paper, the polypyrrole–carbon nanotube/polyethersulfone composite membranes (PPy–CNT/PES) were successfully fabricated via a process of chemical polymerization of pyrrole on the CNT/PES substrate. The resistivity, pure water flux, as well as the fouling prevention performance of the PPy–CNT/PES membrane were systematically studied. The electric resistance of the PPy–CNT/PES membrane was greatly reduced to 450 ± 40 Ω cm-1, and the pure water flux for the PPy–CNT/PES membrane was about 136.2 ± 5.1 L m− 2 h− 1 bar− 1. The flux recovery rate of the PPy–CNT/PES membrane was increased from 68.18 to 76.38% compared with the pristine PES membrane. An electric field of 1 V/cm was applied between the titanium sheet and the PPy–CNT/PES membrane as a cathode, and the flux recovery rate of the PPy–CNT/PES membrane was improved to 81.78%. Therefore, the membrane cathode could effectively prevent the pore clogging, meaning that the prepared PPy–CNT/PES membrane has significant potential for practical applications in anti-fouling.