Porous PZT ceramic membranes and their anti-fouling performance

Porous PZT ceramic membranes were fabricated by dry pressing PZT powder. Study of sintering temperature on mechanical strength, porosity and pure water permeability showed that the membrane obtained at 950℃ sintering temperature had pure water permeability of 850 L·m^-2·h^-1·MPa^-1, average pore size about 300 nm, mechanical strength of 47.8 MPa, and porosity of 34%. Further study of poling temperature and electric voltage on piezoelectric property of porous PZT ceramic membranes, which were extracted and plasma etched after poling, showed that after poling at temperature of 120℃ and electric field of 4 kV·mm^-1, hot alcohol extraction, and 4 min plasma etching, the porous PZT ceramic membranes could create a resonance signal with an amplitude of 34.8 mV when applied to 20 V of an alternating current (AC). Filtration study of the membrane in wastewater oil emulsion with particles of size about 600nm showed that flux decreased to 4% within 2 h without electric field whereas the flux was stabilized at 20% with AC, which indicated the porous PZT membrane had an excellent anti-fouling performance.