J Polym Eng 2015; x(x): xxxxxx

Mei Jiun Lee, Chi Siang Ong, Woei Jye Lau*, Be Cheer Ng, Ahmad Fauzi Ismail
and Soon Onn Lai

Degradation of PVDF-based composite membrane

and its impacts on membrane intrinsic and
separation properties
DOI 10.1515/polyeng-2015-0064
Received February 21, 2015; accepted June 28, 2015

Abstract: In this work, an attempt was made to evaluate the effects of ultraviolet (UV) irradiation period on
the intrinsic and separation properties of composite
membrane composed of organic polyvinylidene fluoride
and inorganic titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles by
exposing the membrane to UV-A light for up to 250 h.
The changes on membrane structural morphologies and
chemical characteristics upon UV exposure were studied by field-emission scanning electron microscope and
Fourier transform infrared, respectively. It was observed
that some cracks and fractures were formed on the membrane outer surface when it was exposed to 120-h UV
light. Further increase in UV irradiation time to 250 h
had caused membrane structure to collapse, turning it
into powder form. Filtration experiments showed that the
permeate flux of irradiated membrane was significantly
increased from 10.89 L/m2 h to 21.84 L/m2 h (>100% flux
increment) while oil rejection decreased with increasing
UV exposure time from 0 h to 120 h. Furthermore, the
mechanical strength and thermal stability of irradiated
membrane were also reported to decrease with increasing UV exposure time, suggesting the negative impacts of
UV light on the membrane overall stability. This research
Q1:
Might it be
better to supply the entire
address in
English for
consistency?

*Corresponding author: Woei Jye Lau, Advanced Membrane

Technology Research Centre (AMTEC), Universiti Teknologi
Malaysia, 81310 Skudai, Johor, Malaysia, e-mail: lwoeijye@utm.my
Mei Jiun Lee: Advanced Membrane Technology Research Centre
(AMTEC), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Skudai, Johor,
Malaysia; and Faculty of Engineering and Science, Setapak Campus,
Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Jalan Genting Klang,
53300 Setapak, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Chi Siang Ong, Be Cheer Ng and Ahmad Fauzi Ismail: Advanced
Membrane Technology Research Centre (AMTEC), Universiti
Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Skudai, Johor, Malaysia
Soon Onn Lai: Faculty of Engineering and Science, Setapak Campus,
Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Jalan Genting Klang,
53300 Setapak, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

is of particular importance to evaluate the suitability and

sustainability of polymeric membrane, which is widely
considered as the host for photocatalyts and used for
wastewater treatment process under UV irradiation.
Keywords: chemical composition; degradation; PVDF;
spectroscopy; UV exposure.

1 Introduction
Contaminated wastewaters with aromatic and aliphatic
compounds produced from oil and gas industries have a
severe and widespread impact on the world energy and
economy [1]. There is an urgent need to find an effective
way to reduce the amount of contaminant releases to our
natural water body systems. Although oily wastewater has
been treated by several conventional techniques including
centrifugation [2, 3], electrocoagulation [4], membrane filtration [57] and flotation process [8, 9], these techniques
are associated with high operating cost and lack of capability in removing oil molecules below 10 m in size.
Advanced oxidation process (AOP) has been considered as a promising technique due to its advantages
of degrading recalcitrant, toxic and non-biodegradable
compounds. Of the AOP methods available, submerged
membrane photocatalytic reactor (sMPR) has drawn
immense attention owing to its capability in degrading
organic pollutants and producing treated solution simultaneously [1019]. Furthermore, sMPR offers great advantages such as low operating cost, ease of maintenance and
high efficiency in removing organic substances [10]. In
general, there are two distinctive configurations for sMPR,
namely (i) reactor with catalyst suspended in the feed solution and (ii) reactor with catalyst immobilized in/on the
membrane [11]. The latter option is more favorable owing
to its simplicity in reactor design, cost-effectiveness and
efficient catalyst recovery. However, one inherent problem
for this configuration is the possible deterioration of the
polymeric membrane material when membrane is directly

2M.J. Lee etal.: Degradation of PVDF-based composite membrane

exposed to ultraviolet (UV) light during treatment process.
The immobilized photocatalysts might absorb UV light
energy, causing membrane aging and further altering its
surface morphology and separation performance.
In general, the initiation of the hydrocarbon compound (RH) photodegradation takes place following the
generation of free radicals upon UV illumination (Eq. 1).
Those hydrocarbon radicals (R) generated would then
react with oxygen to form peroxy radicals (ROO) (Eq. 2),
which subtract hydrogen molecules from polymer chain
(Eq. 3), resulting in hydroperoxides (ROOH) and other
hydrocarbon radicals. The decomposition of hydroperoxides can then lead to backbone cleavage of O-O bonds
followed by -scission of the polymer chain. The radical
propagations can be terminated when two hydrocarbon
radicals combine (Eqs. 45), which results in significant surface morphology changes and formation of lowchained molecular compounds (ROOR or RR) [20, 21].
Initiation:

RH R+ H (1)

Propagation:

R+O2 ROO (2)

ROO+ RH ROOH + R (3)

Termination:

ROO+ R ROOR (4)

R+ R RR (5)

It has been known that the UV energy is the main factor

for most of the damages on membrane surface, as the high
radiation energy tends to induce chain cleavage in the molecules, leading to not only structural deterioration but also
chemical changes in polymeric membranes [2224]. For
instance, Rupiasih et al. [23] found that some cracks and
fractures appeared on the surface of the membrane made
of polysulfone (PSf) when the membrane was exposed to
UVC light (with intensity of 0.28 W/m2) for only 4560 min.
The surface damages are elucidated to the dissociation of
bonds, i.e. C-S and C-O groups of polymeric materials upon
UV exposure. The changes in membrane surface properties
have also been found to significantly increase pure water
flux of membrane from 900 L/m2 h reported in the control
membrane to >3000 L/m2 h in the membrane irradiated
with 60-min UV light. Similar morphological changes were
also observed by Kushwaha etal. [24] on poly(2,2-ethylene5,5-bibenzimidazole) (PBIE) membrane surface after UV
irradiation. It was further reported that UV irradiation has
strong impact on membrane surface chemistry, owing to
the significant bond dissociation occurring for both carbonyl and hydroxyl groups that corresponded to the PBIE
polymer. These findings were further supported by Jyothi
etal. [25] where the surface of PSf/titanium dioxide (TiO2)
mixed matrix membrane suffered from random cracks after

only 40min of UV exposure. Although most of the studies

show that there are significant changes on the membrane
surface after UV irradiation, very limited researches have
been concerned with the membrane separation performance
with respect to the membrane microstructure, morphological changes and chemical composition under prolonged UV
exposure. It is of importance to provide new insight into how
the changes in polymeric membrane intrinsic characteristics
upon long-term UV exposure would affect the performance
stability of membrane in photocatalytic membrane process.
Different types of polymers have been previously used to fabricate photocatalytic membranes, but the sustainability of
using polymer-based membrane process under UV irradiation has rarely been reported [23, 24].
In this study, an attempt is made to evaluate the intrinsic properties and performance stability of the composite
membrane composed of organic polyvinylidene fluoride
(PVDF) and inorganic TiO2 photocatalyts by exposing the
membrane to UV light for up to 250 h. This type of composite membrane has been previously evaluated for the
treatment process of oily wastewater, but the entire experimental period (under UV irradiation) was not more than
10 h [18]. In terms of membrane surface properties and
separation performances, no significant changes were
experienced for relatively short period of UV exposure.
The aim of this study is to provide valuable information
on how the long-term effect of UV irradiation on polymer
membrane would affect membrane structural morphologies and further its separation performance. The research
is of particular importance to evaluate the suitability and
sustainability of the polymeric membrane that is widely
considered as the host for photocatalyts and used for
wastewater treatment process under UV irradiation.

2 Materials and methods

2.1 Materials
PVDF (Kynar 760) pellets purchased from Arkema
Inc., Philadelphia, USA, were used as the main membrane forming material. N,N-dimethylacetamide (DMAc)
(Merck, >99%) was used as solvent to dissolve polymer
without further purification. Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP)
(molecular weight: 40,000 g/mol) (molecular structure
shown in Figure 1) purchased from Sigma Aldrich and
titanium dioxide (TiO2) (Degussa P25, a mixture of 75%
anatase and 25% rutile with BET surface area of 50 m2/g,
average particle size ~21 nm and energy band gap of
3.18eV) from Evonik were used as the photocatalyst.

Q2:
Please
supply the
manufacturers
name, city,
state and
country for
all reagents,
devices, and
software
mentioned
throughout

M.J. Lee etal.: Degradation of PVDF-based composite membrane3

Two 36-W UV-A lamps (Model: PL-L 36W/10/4P, Philips)

were located at the top and bottom of the chamber. PVDFTiO2 hollow fiber membranes were placed in the middle
of the chamber with distance of around 4 cm to the top
and bottom UV lamps. Total light intensity of approximately 170 mW/cm2 (from two UV lamps) was recorded at
the middle of the chamber by a UVX radiometer (Model:
UVP Inc., Upland, CA, USA) with a UV-A sensor (Model:
UVX-36, UVP Inc., Upland, CA, USA). The membrane exposure period intervals for UV irradiation were set at 0, 40,
60, 120, 170, 200, 225 and 250h. For each interval, several
fibers were taken and used for further analysis.
Figure 1:Schematic diagram of the UV exposure chamber: (A) top
UV lamp, (B) bottom UV lamp, (C) aluminum foil tray and (D) PVDFTiO2 hollow fibers.

2.2 P
 reparation of membrane and membrane
module
Eighteen weight percent of PVDF was added into preweighed DMAc solvent after being dried for 24 h in an
oven at 50C. The solution was then mechanically stirred
at 600rpm until all the polymeric pellets were completely
dissolved. It was followed by the addition of 2 wt% of
TiO2 nanoparticles and 5 wt% of PVP into the mixture.
The dope solution was then ultrasonicated to remove any
air bubbles trapped in the solution prior to the spinning
process.
PVDF-TiO2 hollow fiber membranes were fabricated
using dry-jet wet spinning method as described elsewhere [16]. The as-spun hollow fibers were immersed
into water bath for 2 days to remove residual solvent.
Prior to air drying, the fibers were post-treated using
10 wt% glycerol aqueous solution for 1 day to minimize
fiber shrinkage and pore collapse. Lastly, the hollow
fibers were dried at room temperature for 3days before
module fabrication.
A bundle of 60 hollow fibers with approximate length
of 28cm was then potted into each PVC tube using epoxy
resin (E-30CL Locite Corporation, USA). The membrane
module was then left for hardening at room temperature
before its protruding parts were cut and fixed into a PVC
adaptor to complete the module preparation.

2.3 Membrane UV exposure chamber

Figure 1 illustrates a membrane UV exposure chamber made
of aluminum with size of 33cm (W)53cm (L)10cm(H).

2.4 Ultrafiltration experiment

The separation performance was assessed by placing
two U-shaped hollow fiber membrane modules at the
bottom of a submerged tank containing approximately
14 l of oily wastewater. The synthetic oily wastewater
was prepared by mixing 1000 ppm crude oil obtained
from Terengganu Crude Oil Terminal (Location: RE110,
Malaysia) and sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate (SDS)
at the ratio of 9:1 under an agitation speed of 50 Hz
using a high-speed blender (Model: BL 310AW, Khind)
for approximately 2 min at room temperature. To minimize the fouling effect, a constant air flow rate of 5 l/min
generated by an air compressor (Model: 2HP single cylinder 24 l tank, Orimas) was used to generate air bubbles
within the submerged tank through air diffuser installed
underneath the membrane modules. Water permeate
was produced using a peristaltic pump (Model: 7720060, Masterflex l/S, Cole Parmer) by creating a vacuum
condition on the permeate side. Both the vacuum pressure and pump flow rate were kept constant at -15 inHg
and 15 ml/min, respectively, throughout the experimental period. A 10-ml sample was taken from the permeate
for sample analysis, and the remaining permeate was
recycled back to the tank. Three measurements were
made for each sample, and then the average value was
reported. The membrane water flux (J) was determined
according to Eq. (6).

J=

Q
At 

(6)

where J is the water flux (L/m2 h), Q is the quantity of the

permeate (L), A is the effective membrane area (m2), and t
is the time (h) to obtain the quantity of Q. The membrane
oil rejection was then calculated using the following
equation.

4M.J. Lee etal.: Degradation of PVDF-based composite membrane

C
R = 1- P 100

CF

(7)

where R is the oil rejection (%), Cp and CF are the concentration of oil in the permeate (ppm) and the feed (ppm),
respectively. The oil concentration in the permeate and
feed was determined using a UV-vis spectrophotometer
(Model: DR5000, Hach) measured at a wavelength of
278nm at which the maximum absorption occurs.

2.5 Membrane characterization

The membrane surface and cross-sections of the samples
were examined using field-emission scanning electron
microscope (FESEM) (Model: SU8020, Hitachi). The dry
membrane samples were immersed in liquid nitrogen and
fractured, followed by sputter-coating with platinum using
a sputtering device. An energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscope using an acceleration voltage of 10kV and magnification of 60,000 was used for elemental analysis in
order to confirm the polymer degradation on membrane
surface. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra of the
membrane samples were performed using attenuated total
reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscope (ATRFTIR) (Model: Nicolet 5700, Thermo Electron Scientific

Instruments Corporation). These spectra were recorded at

resolution between 650 and 4000 cm-1. Thermal gravimetric
analysis (TGA) of the membrane samples was recorded by
thermogravimetry analyzer (Model: TGA/SDTA85, Mettler
Toledo). The membrane sample was cut into small pieces,
weighed and placed into a pre-weighed aluminum crucible. The samples were heated from 30C to 800C at a
heating rate of 10 C/min, under nitrogen atmosphere, with
a nitrogen flow rate of 20 ml/min. Fiber tensile test was
performed at room temperature on a tensile tester (Model:
LRX 2.5KN, LLYOD). The gauge length of membrane sample
was fixed at 50mm, and the gauge running speed was set
at 10mm/min. The mechanical properties of the membrane
were then e valuated with respect to tensile strength and
elongation-at-break using NEXTGEN software.

3 Results and discussion

3.1 E
 ffect of UV irradiation on membrane
intrinsic properties
Figure 2 shows the FESEM images of the outer surface of
the hollow fiber membranes after exposing to UV light
for different periods. The results revealed that cracks and

Figure 2:FESEM surface images of PVDF-TiO2 membranes after exposure to UV of (A) 0 h, (B) 40 h, (C) 60h and (D) 120 h.

M.J. Lee etal.: Degradation of PVDF-based composite membrane5

fractures on the irradiated membrane surface became

more obvious with increasing UV exposure time. Selective
layer (dense structure) of the membrane was significantly
altered after it was exposed to UV light of 120 h. In this
study, membrane UV exposure experiments were conducted for a maximum period of 250 h, but the characterization on the membrane properties was unable to perform
for the membrane exposing to UV light of >120h. This is
because the cylindrical-shaped hollow fiber membrane
was turned to powder form at high UV exposure time

(>120 h). The propagation of surface cracks at the early

stage of UV exposure (40 h) can be ascribed to the absorption of UV energy on membrane surface which generates
a large amount of free radicals that causes membrane
surface starts to deform. It is also possible that the thermal-induced expansion and contraction between surface
and interior of the irradiated membrane under continuous UV irradiation are the factors causing the formation
of cracks and fractures as discussed in a previous work
[26]. Figure 3 further compares the changes in membrane

Figure 3:FESEM images (left 0h and right 120 h) of cross-sectional morphologies of PVDF-TiO2 membranes with different magnifications, (A) 100, (B) 600 and (C) 5000.

6M.J. Lee etal.: Degradation of PVDF-based composite membrane

Table 1:EDX results of PVDF-TiO2 membrane at different UV exposure time.
Elements (wt%)
F
C
O
Ti

0 h

40 h

60 h

120 h

>120 h

49.92
38.29
6.88
4.92

47.76
35.12
9.02
8.11

39.88
28.56
16.63
14.93

37.28
26.64
18.21
17.86

n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a

cross-sectional morphology at different UV irradiation

period. Clearly, the wall thickness of the membrane was
significantly reduced from 153 m in the control membrane to <120 m in the membrane exposed to 120-h UV
light. The images also revealed that UV light only affects
the morphology of the membrane outer surface, as there is
barely change in the membrane structure near its lumen.
The reduced membrane wall thickness might have influence not only on the membrane surface chemical properties but also on its mechanical stability.
As shown in Table 1, the decreasing contents of C and
F element with increasing UV irradiation have provided
additional evidence to support the physical changes in
membrane outer surface as presented in Figure 2. Lower
C and F contents are likely due to the degradation of the
PVDF polymer (-(C2H2F2)n-) under UV irradiation.

3.2 E
 ffect of UV irradiation on membrane
chemical composition
To further understand the effect of UV exposure on PVDFTiO2 composite membranes, FTIR analysis was performed
and the results are shown in Figure 4. It can be seen that

there are some chemical changes in the irradiated membrane for 120h compared with that of without UV irradiation. The peaks at 1043.4cm-1 and 1109.7cm-1 are assigned
to stretching vibration of C-N group owing to the presence of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) (-(C6H9NO)n-), which
was used as a pore former to enhance flux performance
in composite membrane [27, 28]. The dissociation of C-N
group is due to the absorption of UV energy on membrane
outer surface that causes the degradation of the organic
compound (PVP and/or PVDF) into inorganic products.
Furthermore, the peak at 996cm-1 is assigned to stretching
vibration of C-C group in the PVDF-TiO2 membrane [29].
The scission of this C-C group is caused by the photodegradation of PVDF polymer upon UV illumination.
Nevertheless, there are no significant chemical
changes between - and -phase of PVDF main polymer
with increasing UV exposure time. Those peaks at 763cm-1,
876 cm-1 and 1180 cm-1 are assigned to -phase of PVDF,
while those in the range of 14001200 cm-1 and several
peaks at 1072cm-1 and 840cm-1 are attributed to -phase of
PVDF polymer [30]. Our findings were consistent with the
report of Gu etal. [31] in which PVDF membranes blended
with and without poly(ethyl acrylate) (PMMA-co-PEA)
copolymer were prepared and subjected to UV exposure.
The chemical changes in the membranes were mainly
attributed to the degradation of the co-polymer rather than
that of the PVDF main polymer. Although the mechanisms
involved have not been clearly established, it is believed
that the absorption of UV energy does, to some extent, alter
the surface chemistry of the polymeric membrane, damaging their repeating structural units. It must be also pointed
out that the IR beam penetration depth during FTIR analysis might exceed the top surface of altered PVDF-based
membrane, covering internal parts beneath.

3.3 E
 ffect of UV irradiation on membrane
flux and oil rejection

Figure 4:FTIR spectra of PVDF-TiO2 composite membrane at different UV exposure time.

In this section, the filtration performances of both pristine and irradiated PVDF-TiO2 composite membranes
were evaluated using synthetic oily wastewater containing 1000 ppm of oily wastewater. The membranes were
tested under submerged condition using self-customized
submerged reactor, as described in our previous work
[18]. Table 2 shows the membrane permeate flux as a
function of UV exposure time. It was observed that the
permeate flux of irradiated membranes was significantly
increased from 10.89 L/m2 h to 21.84 L/m2 h with increasing UV exposure time from 0h to 120 h, recording >100%
flux increment. The increased water flux of membrane

M.J. Lee etal.: Degradation of PVDF-based composite membrane7

Table 2:Effect of UV irradiation on permeate flux and oil rejection as a function of UV exposure time (operating conditions:
temperature=25C, oil concentration=1000 ppm, air bubble flow
rate=5 l/min and vacuum pressure=-15 inHg).
UV exposure time (h)
0
40
60
120
>120a

Table 3:Effect of UV irradiation on mechanical strength and

thermal stability of PVDF-TiO2 membrane as a function of UV exposure time.

Permeate flux (L/m2 h)

Oil rejection (%)

10.89
11.54
16.03
21.84
n/a

85
97
98
92
n/a

Membrane module was not prepared, as hollow fiber membrane

turned into powder after >120-h UV irradiation.
a

Q3:
Reference
You et
al. [32]
has been
changed to
You and
Wu [32] to
match with
the reference
list. Please
check and
confirm
Q4:
Please check
the edit
made to the
sentence
According
to them,
increasing
water flux.
retained its
intended
meaning

can be related to the formation of cracks and/or decreased

membrane wall thickness as evidenced in Figures 2 and 3.
As a consequence, it reduces water transport resistance
and increases water permeability. Similar findings were
also reported by You and Wu [32] in which they found
that higher permeate flux was obtained for the membrane
irradiated with longer period of UV light. However, they
attributed the increased water flux to the enhanced hydrophilicity and antifouling properties of the UV-irradiated
membrane, instead of polymer deterioration. According
to them, upon UV irradiation, the larger organic matters
deposited on membrane surface are degraded into smaller
organic matters by the formation of OH radicals, causing
them to be easily removed and thereby improving the antifouling properties and increasing water flux.
With respect to membrane separation efficiency, the
oil rejection increased from 85% to 98% when UV exposure time was increased from 0 h to 60 h but gradually
decreased to 92% when UV exposure time was further
increased to 120 h. It can be explained by the effect of
oil droplet size on the membrane surface. As reported
in our previous studies [33, 34], the oil droplet size distribution of the synthesized solution was in the range
of 0.42.6m, with a mean particle diameter of 1.08 m
(0.16). This allowed some smaller oil particles to permeate through the membrane surface at higher UV exposure
time (>60 h), owing to the increases of surface defects (as
shown in Figure 2) that appeared on the irradiated membrane outer layer, thus resulting in the deterioration of oil
rejection but with higher water flux.

3.4 E
 ffect of UV irradiation on membrane
properties with respect to mechanical
strength and thermal stability
Table 3 presents the mechanical and thermal properties
of the studied PVDF-TiO2 membrane exposed to different

UV exposure
time (h)
0
40
60
120

Tensile strength
(MPa)

Elongation-at-
break (%)

Td (C)

1.93
1.90
1.82
1.73

326%
160%
128%
120%

406
421
406
390

UV irradiation time. With increasing UV exposure time,

the PVDF-TiO2 membrane demonstrated a reduction in the
tensile strength and elongation-at-break. The deterioration
in membrane mechanical properties can be well-correlated
to the formation of cracks on the membrane surface as well
as reduced wall thickness, as evidenced in Figures 2 and
3, respectively. Although the mechanisms involved have
not been clearly established, it is believed that the surface
defects and reduction in membrane wall thickness would
act as weak points of the entire membrane integrity and
further results in high tendency of membrane structure collapse [33]. Cui etal. [26] also found that increasing UV exposure time for a bio-renewable polymer from 250h to 2000h
could lead to deleterious effect on polymer mechanical
strength following the formation of surface cracks on the
studied polymer during photodegradation. Apart from the
weakening mechanical properties, the membrane thermal
property with respect to decomposition temperature (Td)
was reported to decrease from 406C to 390C after only
120-h UV irradiation. The lower thermal stability of irradiated membrane can be ascribed to the change in structural morphologies of PVDF-TiO2 composite membrane as a
result of free radical-induced degradation. Similar pattern
was observed by Kushwaha etal. [24] in which a significant
decrease of Td was experienced for poly(2,2-ethylene-5,5bibenzimidazole) (PBIE) membrane irradiated for >250-h
UV light. They attributed the deterioration in thermal stability of irradiated membrane to the change in molecular
structure and molecular weight of PBIE as oxidized by
strong radicals produced from UV irradiation.

4 Conclusion
The properties and performance stability of PVDF-TiO2
composite membrane irradiated for 250 h have been
studied. The formation of cracks and fractures was
observed on the outer surface layer of membrane when
it was exposed to 120-h UV light. Further increase in UV
irradiation time to 250h had caused membrane structure

8M.J. Lee etal.: Degradation of PVDF-based composite membrane

to collapse, turning it into powder form. The degradation
of membrane was further supported by the reduced membrane wall thickness and lower C and F contents at high
UV exposure time. Furthermore, the surface chemistry of
the composite membranes was altered by the dissociation
of C-N and C-C bonds under UV irradiation. Those changes
in membrane physical appearance and chemical composition had resulted in deleterious effect to both membrane mechanical strength and thermal stability. With
respect to the membrane performance, the permeate flux
of irradiated membrane was significantly increased from
10.89 L/m2 h to 21.84 L/m2 h, while oil rejection decreased
with increasing UV exposure time. Overall, the findings
of this work are of particular importance to the researchers who have considered the polymeric-based membranes
as the host for photocatalyts and used the membranes for
photocatalytic process under UV irradiation.

5 Future works
Although PVDF is generally rated as good UV-resistant
polymer, the results from our current work have shown that
the properties of membranes made of this polymer were
severely altered under prolonged UV exposure time. Therefore, in order to improve the sustainability and practicability
of the photocatalytic membrane in the wastewater treatment
process, other types of polymers that exhibit much better
UV resistance should be explored. As reported in a technical
report published by Cole Parmer [34], polyetherimide and
polyimide polymer, which have been used as the construction materials for the advanced instruments manufacturing
in the outer space, could be the most potential polymeric
materials for photocatalytic membrane making.
Acknowledgments: The authors gratefully acknowledge
the financial support by the LIMPID FEP-7 Collaborative European Project Nanocomposite Materials for Photocatalytic Degradation of Pollutants (Project number:
NMP3-SL-2012-310177).
Q5:
Please supply missing
elements in
references
and confirm
if details
provided are
correct, such
as year of
publication
and author
names

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