Development of Photocatalytic Ultrafiltration Membranes for Enhanced Removal of Carbamazepine: Optimization and Mechanistic Insights

Carbamazepine (CBZ), a persistent antiepileptic drug, poses significant challenges in water treatment due to its recalcitrance to conventional degradation methods. This study presents a breakthrough in CBZ removal by integrating a photocatalytic ultrafiltration (UF) membrane with precisely engineered surface‐immobilized TiO₂ nanoparticles (NPs) fabricated via an innovative technique developed in our prior work. The UF process, conducted under UV irradiation at 0.5 L/min crossflow, demonstrated exceptional performance when optimizing membrane composition (18% PVDF, 5% ethanol, and 1.5% embedded TiO 2 ) and surface TiO 2 NP density (3.04 g/m 2 ), achieving 80% CBZ rejection with a high permeate flux of 100 L/m 2 /h at low pressures (0.05–0.1 MPa). Crucially, membranes lacking surface TiO 2 NPs showed negligible CBZ removal, regardless of UV exposure or pressure, underscoring the necessity of photocatalytic activation. Further analysis revealed that increasing pressure (0.05 → 0.1 MPa) and CBZ concentration (1 → 4 mg/L) reduced rejection efficiency (80% → 42% and 80% → 55%, respectively), highlighting the interplay between operational parameters and membrane performance. This work establishes a groundbreaking strategy for enhancing CBZ elimination, offering critical insights for advancing engineered membrane technologies in water treatment applications.