Incorporating organic nanospheres into the polyamide layer to prepare thin film composite membrane with enhanced biocidal activity and chlorine resistance

Zhipeng Liao, Xiaofeng Fang, Jiansheng Li*, Xin Li, Wuxiang Zhang, Xiuyun Sun, Jinyou Shen, Weiqing Han, Shuaifei Zhao, Lianjun Wang

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    45 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    To enhance the antibacterial property and chlorine resistance, organic nanospheres, polypyrrole (PPy), were innovatively incorporated into the polyamide (PA) layer for fabricating thin film nanocomposite (TFN) membranes. Owing to the improved hydrophilicity and compatibility between the PPy nanospheres and the PA layer, the obtained TFN membranes exhibited significant water flux enhancement without sacrificing salt rejection. Under the optimal PPy dosage (0.006 wt%), TFN membranes showed a high water flux of 42.19 L/(m2 h), which was 118.0% higher than that of the pristine membrane. Remarkably, the chlorine resistance of TFN membranes was strengthened after the incorporation of PPy nanospheres, as evidenced by the less decreased salt rejection, as compared with the TFC and commercial RO membrane. In addition, the positively charged PPy nanospheres immobilized in the PA layer endow the TFN membranes with improved biocidal activity, which was much higher than that of the pristine membrane. This study shows that incorporating organic nanospheres into the PA layer is an effective strategy to develop new TFN membranes with enhanced performance for advanced water purification.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)222-230
    Number of pages9
    JournalSeparation and Purification Technology
    Volume207
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 22 Dec 2018

    Keywords

    • Interfacial polymerization
    • Polypyrrole
    • Reverse osmosis
    • Thin film composite
    • Thin film nanocomposite

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