(174bg) High-Performance TFC Membranes with Optimized Polyamide Selective Layer for Water Treatment

Polyamide thin film composite (TFC) membranes have been widely applied in various membrane-based separation processes for its good separation performanc, easy fabrication, as well as wide temperature and pH application ranges. However, most TFC membranes fabricated by conventional interfacial polymerization generally suffer relative low flux and high fouling tendency, due to little control of the micro-structure of the polyamide (PA) layer and the highly-crosslinked aromatic PA chains with relative hydrophobicity. In this work, we aim at the molecular design and micro-structure regulation of the PA selective layer, by employing various tertiary amine catalysts or applying ultrasonication during interfactial polymerization, or introducing functional cyclodextrin amine monomer with its unique molecular-recognization ability, in order to densify the PA network, enhance the surface hydrophilicity, and optimize the selective layer thickness, roughness, or free volume, thereby achieving a superior separation performance and antifouling properties of the resulted TFC membranes for forward osmosis and nanofiltration applications.

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