Enhanced surface hydrophilicity of thin-film composite membranes for nanofiltration: an experimental and DFT study

Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics : PCCP
Zhiwei LvLianjun Wang

Abstract

In the current study, thin-film composite (TFC) nanofiltration membranes desirable for water softening were successfully developed through interfacial polymerization using N-(2-hydroxyethyl)ethylenediamine (HEDA) as the amine monomer in the aqueous phase. The hydrophilicity of the membrane surface was greatly enhanced with the introduction of the residual hydroxyl groups during the fabrication process. The TFC membranes possessed a permeate flux of 15.8 L m(-2) h(-1) under 0.6 MPa, with a rejection of 85.9%, 73.8%, and 99.8% for Na2SO4, MgSO4 and Congo red, respectively. The interplays of the solvent, solute and polymer matrix on the separation performance were investigated by means of the solubility parameter study. Moreover, density functional theory was employed to calculate the Fukui function by the Hirshfeld charge, which gave the global and local softness values to predict the reactivity of the atomic sites in the HEDA molecule. The findings of this study support the possible forming mechanism of the barrier layer for the first time. The TFC membrane was found to be stable and displayed good separation ability over a week-long filtration process. The combined results of this work suggest that these HEDA/TMC TFC nanofiltra...Continue Reading

References

Mar 21, 2008·Nature·Mark A ShannonAnne M Mayes
Apr 18, 2009·Water Research·Lauren F GreenleePhilippe Moulin
Dec 25, 2009·Chemphyschem : a European Journal of Chemical Physics and Physical Chemistry·Siavash DarvishmaneshBart Van der Bruggen
Sep 16, 2010·Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics : PCCP·Siavash DarvishmaneshBart Van der Bruggen

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