(174bu) Amphibians-Inspired Amino Acid Ionic Liquid Functionalized Nanofiltration Membranes with High Flux and Ion Selectivity for Wastewater Treatment

This work aims at proposing an amphibian bionic concept which can realize the increase of membrane flux without rejection sacrifice and solve the problem of flux attenuation in the preparation of dry nanofiltration membrane. The modifier plays the role of post-treatment agent at the same time, which combines modification with post-treatment, high-flux dry membrane preparation of one-step.

Inspired by the amphibian skin of Bombina orientalis, a bionic material with hydrophilic group was employed to functionalize interfacial polymerized nanofiltration membrane. This material offers the membrane with (1) higher hydrophilicity leading to pure water permeability of 63% higher than conventional NF membrane; (2) more negatively charged surface and slightly larger pore size, which results in a high Na₂SO₄/NaCl selectivity of 43 times increased from conventional NF membrane and effective for resource recovery from wastewater. Furthermore, hydrophilic material, similar to the epidermal secretion of Bombina orientalis, acts as humectant which prevents pore shrinkage during heat-treatment, which is important for membrane storage and transport. The functionalized membrane may provide an effective strategy to design high performance nanofiltration membranes for small similar molecular separations in wastewater treatment.