Ti2NTx quasi-MXene modified polyamide thin film composite reverse osmosis membrane with effective desalination and antifouling performance

Vahid Vatanpour; Sara Mahdiei; Samira Arefi-Oskoui; Alireza Khataee; Yasin Orooji

doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2023.140309

Ti₂NT_x quasi-MXene modified polyamide thin film composite reverse osmosis membrane with effective desalination and antifouling performance

Chemosphere. 2023 Dec:344:140309. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2023.140309. Epub 2023 Oct 3.

Authors

Vahid Vatanpour¹, Sara Mahdiei², Samira Arefi-Oskoui³, Alireza Khataee⁴, Yasin Orooji⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, Kharazmi University, Tehran, 15719-14911, Iran; Environmental Engineering Department, Istanbul Technical University, Maslak, Istanbul, 34469, Turkey. Electronic address: vahidvatanpour@khu.ac.ir.
² Department of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, Kharazmi University, Tehran, 15719-14911, Iran.
³ Research Laboratory of Advanced Water and Wastewater Treatment Processes, Department of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, 51666-16471, Iran; Department of Chemical Industry, Technical and Vocational University (TVU), Tehran, Iran.
⁴ Research Laboratory of Advanced Water and Wastewater Treatment Processes, Department of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, 51666-16471, Iran; Department of Environmental Engineering, Gebze Technical University, Gebze, 41400, Turkey; Department of Materials Science and Nanotechnology Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Near East University, 99138 Nicosia, Mersin 10, Turkey.
⁵ College of Geography and Environmental Sciences, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, 321004, China. Electronic address: orooji@zjnu.edu.cn.

PMID: 37797897
DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2023.140309

Abstract

In this study, considering the serious problem of lack of fresh water worldwide and the effectiveness of reverse osmosis (RO) membranes in water purification, we prepared improved RO membranes with two-dimensional quasi-MXene nanosheets. In this study, the MAX phase with the chemical formula of Ti₂AlN was prepared through the reactive sintering route. Prosperous preparation of the MAX phase with the hexagonal crystalline structure was approved by an X-ray diffraction pattern. Compacted sheets morphology was recognized for the prepared MAX phase from transmittance electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy micrographs. Then, Ti₂NT_x quasi-MXene nanosheets were prepared by selective ultrasonic-assisted exfoliation of the MAX phase. Polyamide (PA) thin-layer composite RO membranes with different weight percentages of Ti₂NT_x quasi-MXene were fabricated by the interfacial polymerization (IP) method. The addition of ultrasonic-assisted prepared quasi-MXene creates numerous and coherent nanochannels on the surface of the membrane. The optimum membrane with 0.01 wt% of quasi-MXene showed the highest pure water flux of 31.9 L m^-2. h^-1 with an improved salt rejection of 98.2%. Therefore, these nanosheets showed that they can partially solve the trade-off between water permeability and salt rejection, which is a serious challenge in RO membranes. Also, the membranes containing quasi-MXene showed good resistance against fouling by humic acid. This research can be a scalable development in making high-performance membranes.

Keywords: 2D materials; MXene; Reverse osmosis; Thin film composite; Ultrasonic-assisted exfoliation.

MeSH terms

Biofouling* / prevention & control
Nylons* / chemistry
Osmosis
Titanium
Water / chemistry

Substances

Nylons
MXene
Titanium
Water