ABSTRACT
Rapid population growth and industrial development lead to an increase in heavy metal pollution in surface and underground water resources. Considering that aquatic organisms, the environment, and human health are all adversely affected by heavy metals, it is vital to remove these pollutants from water resources. Heavy metals are remedied through a variety of technologies, including chemical precipitation, ion exchange, membrane filtration, adsorption, coagulation-flocculation, floatation, electrochemical treatment, and bioremediation. Recently, photocatalytic techniques using semiconductors demonstrated remarkable capacity as an economical, environmentally friendly, and sustainable treatment method in the water/wastewater industry. Compared to current wastewater treatment, photocatalytic membranes have the advantages of membrane separation combined with pollutant degradation. Photocatalytic membranes can be either fabricated by immobilized semiconductor-based photocatalysts in the membrane matrix or used in photocatalyst suspension form. In this chapter, various properties and different synthesis methods and characterization of membrane photocatalysts have been summarized. Finally, applications of photocatalytic membranes have been discussed for heavy metal removal from water and wastewater.
