Please cite this article in press as: S. Vetrivel, et al., Int. J. Biol. Macromol. (2017), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2017.10.027 ARTICLE IN PRESS G Model BIOMAC-8322; No. of Pages 6 International Journal of Biological Macromolecules xxx (2017) xxx–xxx Contents lists available at ScienceDirect International Journal of Biological Macromolecules j ourna l h o mepa ge: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijbiomac Fabrication of cellulose acetate nanocomposite membranes using 2D layered nanomaterials for macromolecular separation S. Vetrivel a , M. Sri Abirami Saraswathi a , D. Rana b , A. Nagendran a,∗ a PG & Research Department of Chemistry, Polymeric Materials Research Lab, Alagappa Government Arts College, Karaikudi, 630 003, India b Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Ottawa, 161 Louis Pasteur St., Ottawa, ON, K1N 6N5, Canada a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 16 June 2017 Received in revised form 3 September 2017 Accepted 5 October 2017 Available online xxx Keywords: Cellulose acetate Ultrafiltration Nanocomposite Exfoliated MoS2 Graphene oxide a b s t r a c t Cellulose acetate (CA) nanocomposite ultrafiltration (UF) membranes were fabricated using 2D layered nanosheets such as graphene oxide (GO) and exfoliated molybdenum disulfide (E-MoS 2 ) and effectively used for the removal of macromolecular protein. The GO and E-MoS 2 nanosheets were prepared and char- acterized by FT-IR and XRD respectively. GO and E-MoS 2 (0.5 wt.%) were blended individually with CA. The assenting changes generated by the incorporation of GO and E-MoS 2 in terms of surface hydrophilicity of the nanocomposite membrane were analyzed by pure water flux (PWF) and contact angle measurement. The influence of 2D nanosheets on the morphology of CA are studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Mechanical strength and hydraulic resistance of the nanocomposite membranes were found to be improved compared to bare CA membrane. The separation and antifouling performance of the nanocom- posite membranes were studied using macromolecular bovine serum albumin (BSA). From the results, it was observed that a CA/GO-0.5 membrane exhibited the highest PWF (125.4 ± 1.7 Lm −2 h −1 ), water content (70.6 ± 1.2%), porosity (34.6 ± 1.7%), flux recovery ratio (FRR) (88.8 ± 1.6%) and lowest contact angle (63.9 ± 2.5 ◦ ), hydraulic resistance (4.3 ± 0.67 kPa/Lm −2 h −1 ) than pure CA and CA/E-MoS 2 -0.5 mem- branes. CA/GO-0.5 membrane displayed superior UF and antifouling performance due to the greater affinity of GO nanoparticles towards water. © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction In recent years, membrane technologies have been preferred over other methods for water purification. This is because the other water treatment technologies, such as distillation, disinfection, or media filtration do require complex process, thermal inputs, and chemical disinfectants [1]. Particularly, ultrafiltration (UF) is the most widely used and day-to-day developing technique in mem- brane technology for separation of macromolecules and suspended solids from liquids/water which is having the advantages of low cost, simple operation and environment adaptability [2]. Phase inversion is one of the common techniques by which UF membranes are prepared [3]. Polymers are the widely used as base materials in UF, since they possessing the basic required properties for a good membrane material like good strength, mechanical sta- bility, etc. [4,5]. Among several polymer materials, CA is one of the most common polymers, which gives lower flux and little antifoul- ing ability as it easily get fouled by chemicals and microorganisms. ∗ Corresponding author. E-mail address: nagimmm@yahoo.com (A. Nagendran). So it is an absolute necessity to work on improving the fouling resistance and separation performance of CA UF membranes [6]. The modification of UF membranes can be achieved by adopting techniques such as blending, coating, chemical reaction etc. Addition of nanomaterials to modify membrane’s surface is one of the best ways to improve its performance. This can be achieved by simple blending of nanomaterials with the base polymer and sol- vent and then casting the resulting dope solution. Many researchers reported that the introduction of inorganic nanoparticles such as Al 2 O 3 , SiO 2 , TiO 2 , etc., can improve the hydrophilicity, strength and antifouling property of the membranes [7,8]. A well-known 2D nanosheet graphene oxide (GO) can be used as an additive for polymer membrane, which possesses high hydrophilicity (due to the presence of copious oxygen-containing functional groups such as hydroxyl, carboxyl, carbonyl and epoxy groups), good chemical stability, innocuity and high surface area [9,10]. The other graphene like 2D nanomaterial, MoS 2 , a transi- tion metal dichalcogenide, has been investigated to provide good results in water treatment. The fish-bone structure of MoS 2 makes it amenable for a nozzle-like sub-nanometer pore for fast water permeation [11]. It was already reported that the nature of inor- ganic MoS 2 nanomaterials on polycarbonate membrane and the https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2017.10.027 0141-8130/© 2017 Elsevier B.V. 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