Synthesis and Characterization of Novel Integral Asymmetric Monophasic Cellulose-Acetate/Silica/Titania and Cellulose-Acetate/Titania Membranes.

Two series of novel integral asymmetric monophasic hybrid membranes, cellulose acetate/silica/titania (CA/SiO/TiO-series 1) and cellulose acetate/titania (CA/TiO-series 2), were developed by the coupling of sol-gel technology and a modified version of the phase inversion technique. SEM micrographs confirmed the integral asymmetric structure of all membranes. ATR-FTIR and ICP-OES results showed that, for the membranes in series 1, TiO is covalently bound to SiO which, in turn, is covalently bound to CA, while for the membranes in series 2, TiO is directly and covalently bound to the CA matrix.