In this study, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) and polycarbonate (PC)
were electrospun in a blended form at different PC contents (10-50 wt.%) to serve as nanofiber
membranes. The morphological studies done by SEM images demonstrated that the nanofiber
membranes were electrospun without any bead defects in all conditions and the diameters of the
nanofibers were in the range of 140-580 nm. The FTIR test also revealed the presence of all
characteristic peaks of the polymers in the blended membrane. Further, contact angle (CA) tests showed
that the increase of the PC content improved the hydrophilic properties of the membranes with the
decrease of contact angle from 129° to 80°. The mechanical tests also revealed that TPU served a
significant role in the elastic behavior and tensile strength of the membranes. The tensile strength and
strain of electrospun nanofiber membranes (ENFMs) were in the range of 3.5-10.3 MPa and 41-56%,
respectively. The filtration efficiency of ENMs was evaluated using the submerged system with the
humic acid (HA) solution. The obtained results showed that the more porous structure (PC content: 10
wt.%) had higher initial permeation flux (110 L.m-2.h-1), but all samples reached a constant flux (16.44
L.m-2.h-1) after 240 min. Measurement of the fouling parameters also revealed that the irreversible
fouling ratio (IFR) of the membranes was improved by increasing the PC content. The results also
demonstrated the better antifouling performance for the blended membrane with 50 wt.% of
polycarbonate (flux recovery ratio, FRR=92.6 %). The HA rejection measurement also exhibited the
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enhanced rejection of the foulants (99.3 %) by the membrane containing a higher PC content (50 wt.%).
The results showed that the PVC/TPU/PC nanofiber membrane at PC content of 50 wt.% had an
excellent filtration performance and could be used as a candidate for water t