MOF@Polydopamine-incorporated membrane with high permeability and mechanical property for efficient fouling-resistant and oil/water separation

Jiahui Zhao; Lin Cao; Xiao Wang; Haoling Huo; Huaijun Lin; Qiwei Wang; Xusheng Yang; Florian Vogel; Wei Li; Zhidan Lin; Peng Zhang

doi:10.1016/j.envres.2023.116685

MOF@Polydopamine-incorporated membrane with high permeability and mechanical property for efficient fouling-resistant and oil/water separation

Environ Res. 2023 Nov 1;236(Pt 2):116685. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2023.116685. Epub 2023 Jul 17.

Authors

Jiahui Zhao¹, Lin Cao¹, Xiao Wang¹, Haoling Huo¹, Huaijun Lin¹, Qiwei Wang¹, Xusheng Yang², Florian Vogel¹, Wei Li¹, Zhidan Lin³, Peng Zhang⁴

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Advanced Wear & Corrosion Resistant and Functional Materials, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510632, China.
² Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Research Institute for Advanced Manufacturing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China.
³ Institute of Advanced Wear & Corrosion Resistant and Functional Materials, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510632, China. Electronic address: linzd@jnu.edu.cn.
⁴ Institute of Advanced Wear & Corrosion Resistant and Functional Materials, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510632, China. Electronic address: tzhangpeng@jnu.edu.cn.

PMID: 37467944
DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2023.116685

Abstract

Metal organic frameworks (MOFs) have demonstrated great potential for their favorable impacts on the performance of water treatment membranes. Herein, the novel nanoparticles based on both nanoporous MOFs and organic PDA layer was exploited as a novel dopant for the fabrication of PES ultrafiltration (UF) membranes. The PDA was synthesized via oxidative self-polymerization under alkaline conditions and formed adhesive coatings on dispersed MOF. The properties of resulting membranes on the porosity, membrane morphology, hydrophilicity, permeability and anti-fouling performance were adequately investigated. The membranes incorporated with MOF@PDA exhibited exceptionally high permeability (209.02 L m^-2·h^-1), which is approximately 6 times higher than that of the pure PES membrane, and high BSA rejection (99.12%). Notably, the mechanical property and hydrophilicity of the PES membrane were both enhanced by MOF@PDA, and it has been demonstrated that greater hydrophilicity prevents fouling under practical conditions, which results in significant improvements in flux recovery ratio (FRR) (82%). In addition, the modified PES membranes were used to purify the oil/water emulsion, and the results indicates that the membranes have high permeability and rejection of oil/water emulsion, showing its great promise in practical oily sewage remediation.

Keywords: Antifouling; Mechanical property; Oil/water separation; Permeability; Ultrafiltration membrane.