Electrodialysis (ED) membranes typically exhibit modest selectivities between monovalent and divalent ions. This paper reports a dramatic enhancement of the monovalent/divalent cation selectivities of Nafion 115 membranes through coating with multilayer poly(4-styrenesulfonate) (PSS)/protonated poly(allylamine) (PAH) films. Remarkably, K(+)/Mg(2+) ED selectivities reach values >1000, and similar monovalent/divalent cation selectivities occur with feed solutions containing K(+) and Ca(2+). For comparison, the corresponding K(+)/Mg(2+) selectivity of bare Nafion 115 is only 1.8 ± 0.1. However, with 0.01 M KNO3 and 0.01 M Mg(NO3)2 in the source phase, as the applied current density increases from 1.27 to 2.54 mA cm(-2), the K(+)/Mg(2+) selectivities of coated membranes decrease from >1000 to 22. Water-splitting at strongly overlimiting current densities may lead to a local pH increase close to the membrane surface and alter film permeability or allow passage of Mg(OH)x species to decrease selectivity. When the source phase contains 0.1 M KNO3 and 0.1 M Mg(NO3)2, the K(+) transference number approaches unity and the K(+)/Mg(2+) selectivity is >20,000, presumably because the applied current is below the limiting value for K(+) and H(+) transport is negligible at this high K(+) concentration. The high selectivities of these membranes may enable electrodialysis applications such as purification of salts that contain divalent or trivalent ions.
Keywords: electrodialysis; ion-exchange membranes; layer-by-layer; polyelectrolyte; selectivity.