Reticulated Polyamide Thin-Film Nanocomposite Membranes Incorporated with 2D Boron Nitride Nanosheets for High-Performance Nanofiltration

Abstract

Nanofiltration (NF) technology has been widely used in saline wastewater treatment due to its unique separation mechanism. However, the NF membrane, as the core of the nanofiltration technology, is restricted by the trade-off between permeability and selectivity, which greatly restricts the development of NF membranes. The interlamellar arrangement of 2D boron nitride nanosheets (BNNSs) can provide additional transport channels and selectivity, as well as strong adsorption capacity due to its high specific surface area, exhibiting significant potential for advanced membranes. In this work, BNNSs prepared by tannic acid (TA)-assisted exfoliation (TA@BNNSs) were successfully adopted to fabricate thin-film nanocomposite (TFN) membranes via interfacial polymerization (IP). The resultant TFN membranes’ structure and properties were systematically characterized via various methods. The results demonstrated that the surface morphology of polyamide membranes evolved gradually from a nodular structure to a reticular topography, accompanied by the decrease of the thickness of the polyamide selective layer when incorporating TA@BNNSs into the membranes. This phenomenon can be mainly ascribed to that the uptake density and diffusion of piperazine (PIP) monomer were effectively regulated by BNNSs. This is validated by molecular dynamics and revealed by the adsorption of PIP in BN models, the diffusion coefficients, and interaction energies, respectively. In addition, the TFN membranes demonstrated improved permeance and stable solute rejection for the inorganic salts. Specifically, the water flux of PA-TA@BNNSs-10%/PMIA membrane could reach up to 109.1 ± 2.49 L·m–2·h–1 while keeping a high rejection of 97.5 ± 0.38% to Na2SO4, which was superior to most of the reported membranes in the literature. Besides, the PA-TA@BNNSs-10%/PMIA membrane exhibited an excellent stability in the long-term filtration process. The finding in this work provides a potential strategy for developing the next-generation 2D material-based membranes with high-performance for separation applications.

In Situ Constructing High-Performance, Recyclable Thermally Conductive Adhesives with a Hyperbranched-Star Reversibly Cross-Linking Structure

“…For the case with the HBPE@PSF synthesized herein, while the HBPE core can form noncovalent CH−π interactions with the BNNS surface, the benzene rings in the PSF side chains can form π–π interactions with the latter. Similar results have also been reported in the literature. , Thus, high-quality BNNSs can be introduced into the composite system via the in situ process, and after the cross-linking via DA reaction, the as-formed hyperbranched-star, reversibly cross-linking structure can further join tightly them together to form effective thermal transfer paths, thus imparting the resultant composite adhesives with excellent interfacial thermal transfer performance (Figure d).…”

Dendritic Mesoporous Silica Nanosphere-Embedded Polyacrylonitrile Electrospun Composite Nanofiltration Membrane with Crumpled Structure and High Water Permeance

“…After DMSN embedment, the thicknesses for PAN–DMSNs 50 –PA, PAN–DMSNs 100 –PA, and PAN–DMSNs 150 –PA membranes decrease to 199, 134, and 146 nm, respectively. It was reported that nanomaterials on the substrate could regulate the IP process and reduce the thickness of the PA layer. ,− For PAN–DMSNs–PA membranes, the embedded DMSNs could store PIP molecules via hydrogen bonds and electrostatic interaction, controlling the release of PIP toward the interfacial reaction zone. Therefore, the thickness of PAN–DMSNs–PA membranes is lower than that of the PAN–PA membrane.…”

Thin-Film Composite Membranes Interlayered with Amphiphilic MoS2 Nanosheets via Controllable Interfacial Polymerization for Enhanced Desalination Performance

“…(A) Water permeance and (B) salt rejection of TFC and TFC-M/C 0.5 membranes, (C) separation performance of TFC-M/C 0.5 membrane for different heavy metal salts, (D) rejection of different heavy metal ions in actual textile wastewater of TFC and TFC-M/C 0.5 membranes, (E) long-term stability of the TFC-M/C 0.5 membrane, and (F) comparisons of the permeance and selectivity coefficient of Na 2 SO 4 /NaCl of TFC-M/C 0.5 membrane with various reported NF membranes. ,,,,,,− …”