An improvement of electrospun membrane reusability via titanium dioxide nanoparticles and silane compounds for the electromembrane extraction.

A polyacrylonitrile (PAN)/polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) flat membrane was fabricated by electrospinning technique and modified using titanium dioxide (TiO) nanoparticles and low-energy materials, dimethyldichlorosilane (MeSiCl)/methyltrichlorosilane (MeSiCl), to obtain a hydrophobic surface. The new membrane was utilized for the electromembrane extraction (EME) of model molecules including dibutyl phthalate (DBP) and bis [2-ethylhexyl] phthalate (DEHP). The parameters affecting proposed EME were optimized by the response surface methodology (RSM) based on the central composite design (CCD).