Enhanced tetracycline removal using membrane-like air-cathode with high flux and anti-fouling performance in flow-through electro-filtration system

The membrane-like air-cathodes modified with different polyaniline were prepared using phase inversion method, which possessed dual functions of interception and electrochemical degradation, and showed good conductivity (15.9 +/- 0.4 to 25.7 +/- 0.5 mS cm(-1)) and porosity (77.0 +/- 0.1 to 87.8 +/- 0.1%) compared to the unmodified control one (13.2 +/- 0.5 mS cm(-1), and 63.1 +/- 0.7%). At tetracycline 50 mg L-1, the cathode with 25 wt% polyaniline exhibited the highest rejection rate and final removal (71.1% and 92.9%, 35.9% and 31.4% higher than the control), the highest water flux recovery (97.9%), and the lowest attenuation of porosity and conductivity. The modified cathode also showed an autocatalytic effect on H2O2, an obvious center dot OH peak appeared on the electron paramagnetic resonance curves. It also had good anti-fouling performance because it exhibited a high durability (the final removal was decreased by 4.0% after 15 cycles) with a long service life of 124 periods (372 h, 15.5 d). The tetracycline (0.5 mg L-1) removal in the river background was near 100%, and the chemical oxygen demand removal was 91.9%, supporting that it was suitable for treating antibiotics in natural water without adding agents but only for electricity consumption.

Automated summary

Membrane-like air-cathodes modified with different polyaniline through phase inversion method exhibited dual functions of interception and electrochemical degradation, and possessed good conductivity and porosity. Among them, the cathode with 25 wt% polyaniline showed the highest antibacterial effect and removal rate, as well as high water flux recovery and durability.