ABSTRACT
In this study, membranes were prepared by pristine and polyethylene glycol (PEG)-grafted nanodiamond (ND) embedded in cellulose acetate (CA) as matrix polymer via non-solvent induced
phase separation method. The antifouling properties of the membranes were studied during filtration
of bovine serum albumin (BSA) solutions and the governing fouling mechanisms of the membranes
were also investigated using the Hermia model. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and
Thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) confirmed that ND was successfully functionalized by PEG. CA/
ND-PEG nanocomposite membranes have higher hydrophilicity, porosity, water uptake, mechanical
strength and a lower amount of adsorbed protein than pure CA and CA/ND membranes. Besides, the
antifouling performance of the CA/ND-PEG (0.5 wt.%) nanocomposite membrane also witnessed
considerable improvement, in comparison with that of pure CA and CA/ND (0.5 wt.%) membranes.
The obtained results showed that the best fit to experimental data for all membranes (pure and
nanocomposite membranes) corresponds to the cake layer formation model