Microporous organic nanotube assisted design of high performance nanofiltration membranes

Shuangqiao Han; Junyong Zhu; Adam A Uliana; Dongyang Li; Yatao Zhang; Lin Zhang; Yong Wang; Tao He; Menachem Elimelech

doi:10.1038/s41467-022-35681-9

Microporous organic nanotube assisted design of high performance nanofiltration membranes

Nat Commun. 2022 Dec 27;13(1):7954. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-35681-9.

Authors

Shuangqiao Han¹, Junyong Zhu², Adam A Uliana³, Dongyang Li¹, Yatao Zhang⁴, Lin Zhang⁵, Yong Wang⁶, Tao He⁷, Menachem Elimelech⁸

Affiliations

¹ School of Chemical Engineering, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450001, China.
² School of Chemical Engineering, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450001, China. zhujunyong@zzu.edu.cn.
³ Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA.
⁴ School of Chemical Engineering, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450001, China. zhangyatao@zzu.edu.cn.
⁵ Key Laboratory of Biomass Chemical Engineering, College of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, China.
⁶ College of Chemical Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing, 210009, China.
⁷ Laboratory for Membrane Materials and Separation Technologies, Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 201210, China.
⁸ Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Yale University, New Haven, CT, 06520-8286, USA. menachem.elimelech@yale.edu.

Abstract

Microporous organic nanotubes (MONs) hold considerable promise for designing molecular-sieving membranes because of their high microporosity, customizable chemical functionalities, and favorable polymer affinity. Herein, we report the use of MONs derived from covalent organic frameworks to engineer 15-nm-thick microporous membranes via interfacial polymerization (IP). The incorporation of a highly porous and interpenetrated MON layer on the membrane before the IP reaction leads to the formation of polyamide membranes with Turing structure, enhanced microporosity, and reduced thickness. The MON-modified membranes achieve a remarkable water permeability of 41.7 L m^-2 h^-1 bar^-1 and high retention of boron (78.0%) and phosphorus (96.8%) at alkaline conditions (pH 10), surpassing those of reported nanofiltration membranes. Molecular simulations reveal that introducing the MONs not only reduces the amine molecule diffusion toward the organic phase boundary but also increases membrane porosity and the density of water molecules around the membrane pores. This MON-regulated IP strategy provides guidelines for creating high-permeability membranes for precise nanofiltration.

Abstract

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