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High-performance polyamide nanofiltration membrane with arch-bridge structure on a highly hydrated cellulose nanofiber support

纤维素纳米纤维薄膜支撑的具有拱形结构的高性能聚酰胺纳滤膜

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Abstract

Nanofiltration (NF) membranes with outstanding performance are highly demanded for more efficient desalination and wastewater treatment. However, improving water permeance while maintaining high solute rejection by using the current membrane fabrication techniques remains a challenge. Herein, polyamide (PA) NF membrane with archbridge structure is successfully prepared via interfacial polymerization (IP) on a composite support membrane of saltreinforced hydrophilic bacterial cellulose nanofibers (BCNs) nanofilm/polytetrafluoroethylene (BCNs/PTFE). The strong hydration of BCNs promotes Marangoni convection along water/organic solvent interface during the IP process, which creates extra area for interfacial reaction and produces a thin PA active layer with arch-bridge structures. These arch-bridge structures endow the resulting PA active layer with substantial larger active area for water permeation. Consequently, the PA NF membrane exhibits exceptional desalination performance with a permeance up to 42.5 L m−2 h−1 bar−1 and a rejection of Na2SO4 as high as 99.1%, yielding an overall desalination performance better than almost all of the state of the art NF membranes reported so far in terms of perm selectivity.

摘要

在废水处理、脱盐等领域, 对于具有高通量、高分离选择性的纳滤膜的需求日益增加. 通常来说, 增加纳滤膜通量的同时往往会造成膜截留率的下降. 为了能够在保证纳滤膜高的截留率的同时大幅度提升膜通量, 从而进一步突破现有纳滤膜的综合性能, 我们在本工作中报导了一种新型的高性能聚酰胺纳滤膜的制备方法. 我们利用高度水合的细菌纤维素纳米纤维薄膜作为支撑基膜, 通过在界面聚合水相单体溶液中添加NaCl, 成功制备了具有拱形结构的聚酰胺分离层纳滤膜. 这一特殊的拱形结构极大地增加了聚酰胺分离层的有效过滤面积, 使获得的纳滤膜在对Na2SO4保持99.1%截留率的同时, 分离通量高达42.5 L m−2 h−1 bar−1 这一性能远远优于目前已报导的聚酰胺纳滤膜.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Funds for Distinguished Young Scholar (51625306), the Key Project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21433012), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51603229, 21406258), and the State Key Laboratory of Separation Membranes and Membrane Processes (Tianjin Polytechnic University, No. M1-201801). Funding support from the CAS Pioneer Hundred Talents Program is grateful appreciated as well.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. i-Lab, Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou, 215123, China

    Xiangxiu Teng  (滕祥秀), Wangxi Fang  (方望熹), Hongzhen Lin  (蔺洪振), Zhenyi Wang  (王祯宜), Yuzhang Zhu  (朱玉长) & Jian Jin  (靳健)

  2. School of Physical Science and Technology, Shanghai Tech University, Shanghai, 200031, China

    Xiangxiu Teng  (滕祥秀) & Jian Jin  (靳健)

  3. Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200050, China

    Xiangxiu Teng  (滕祥秀)

  4. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Xiangxiu Teng  (滕祥秀)

  5. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, 37235-1831, USA

    Yuanzhe Liang  (梁元喆) & Shihong Lin  (林仕弘)

  6. College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Qilu Normal University, Jinan, 250200, China

    Shasha Liu  (刘莎莎)

Authors
  1. Xiangxiu Teng  (滕祥秀)
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  2. Wangxi Fang  (方望熹)
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  3. Yuanzhe Liang  (梁元喆)
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  4. Shihong Lin  (林仕弘)
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  5. Hongzhen Lin  (蔺洪振)
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  6. Shasha Liu  (刘莎莎)
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  7. Zhenyi Wang  (王祯宜)
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  8. Yuzhang Zhu  (朱玉长)
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  9. Jian Jin  (靳健)
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Contributions

Zhu Y and Jin J designed the experiments and developed the theory; Teng X performed the experiments; Lin H performed the measurement of SFG; Liu S contributed to the MD analysis; Teng X, Liang Y, Wang Z, Fang W and Zhu Y performed the data analysis; Teng X and Zhu Y wrote the paper with support from Jin J and Lin S; all authors contributed to the general discussion.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Yuzhang Zhu  (朱玉长) or Jian Jin  (靳健).

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Jian Jin received her BSc (1996) and PhD degrees (2001) from Jilin University of China. She then worked as a JSPS (Japan Society for the Promotion of Science) postdoctoral fellow in the Research Center of Advanced Science and Technology at Tokyo University, Japan. From 2004 to 2009, she worked as a senior researcher at the National Institute for Materials Science, Japan, under Dr. Izumi Ichinose. In 2009, she joined Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics (SINANO) at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) as a group leader. Her research interests include the design of advanced filtration membranes for environmental applications.

Yuzhang Zhu received his BSc degree (2009) from Anhui University of Science and Technology and completed his PhD (2015) from the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences. He then worked as a postdoctoral fellow in Professor Jian Jin’s group at SINANO, CAS. From 2017, he joined SINANO as an associate research professor. His current research interests focus on advanced membranes for nanofiltration, oil/water separation and stimuli-responsive separation.

Xiangxiu Teng received her BSc degree from Qingdao University of Science and Technology in 2016. Then, she joined Shanghai University of Science and Technology. At 2017, she started her research program under the supervision of Professor Jian Jin. Her research interest is the preparation of polyamide nanofiltration membrane for desalination.

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40843_2020_1335_MOESM1_ESM.pdf

High-Performance Polyamide Nanofiltration Membrane with Arch-bridge Structure on a Highly Hydrated Cellulose Nanofiber Support

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Teng, X., Fang, W., Liang, Y. et al. High-performance polyamide nanofiltration membrane with arch-bridge structure on a highly hydrated cellulose nanofiber support. Sci. China Mater. 63, 2570–2581 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40843-020-1335-x

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