Incorporating ionic carbon dots in polyamide nanofiltration membranes for high perm-selectivity and antifouling performance

What works and what doesn’t when graphene quantum dots are functionalized for contemporary applications?

It is a great challenge to develop a low cost, high efficiency and environmentally friendly method to treat organic wastewater. In this study, synergistic modification of polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) membrane with polydopamine and titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles is developed to construct a PVDF composite membrane for the organic wastewater treatment. This composite membrane was prepared by firstly forming a membrane with dopamine modified PVDF powder, and then depositing TiO2 nanoparticles by a liquid deposition method. The preexisting polydopamine induced TiO2 to be well dispersed in the membrane pores and on the membrane surface and their synergy endowed the composite membrane with excellent treatment ability for organic wastewater. After the composite membrane was irradiated by UV light for 60 minutes, its water flux could be three times greater than that of the corresponding PVDF membrane. Meanwhile, the composite membrane showed very high rejection ability for filtering wastewater with organic pollutants, could remove about 99.0% of Congo red and Coomassie brilliant blue G250, 98.2% of humic acid and 86.7% of bovine serum albumin from organic wastewater. Furthermore, after a humic acid solution filtration and a followed 60-min UV irradiation, the composite membrane could recover above 87.2% of the water flux. Due to the good wetting properties and underwater low oil droplets adhesion, this membrane also exhibited high rejection and excellent anti-fouling properties for filtering oil-water emulsion. Undoubtedly, the constructed membrane is a good generalist for the separation and wastewater treatment applications. 

Enhance organic pollutants removal of wastewater by a PVDF/PDA-TiO2 composite membrane with photocatalytic property

Conductive thin-film nanocomposite nanofiltration membrane comprising N-doped graphene quantum dots with relieved concentration polarization for sulfate separation from high-salinity solution

Today, one of the most imortant environmental problems is the treatment of industrial wastewaters containing heavy metal ions and salts. In this research, thin-film nanocomposite (TFN) membranes were developed through incorporation of modified titanate nanotube (TNT) and halloysite nanotube (HNT) into the polyamide (PA) active layer to improve the performance of the NF membranes. At first, the internal surface of the nanotubes was coated with different polymers to lessen the inner diameter of the nanotubes. Then, the inner surface coated nanotubes were magnetized through placing Fe3O4 on their outer surface. In case of magnetized nanotubes, the fabrication of the membranes was done in the absence and in the presence of the external magnetic field, which made the nanotubes to align in a regular pattern across the PA layer, smoothing the membranes' surface and lowering the contact angle. It is expected that the magnetized nanotubes can make suitable arrangement in the structure of thin layer in the presence of the magnetic field and show better performance. The nanotubes act as the channels for water transport and in case of inner coated nanotubes, reject more ions through the steric hindrance. The pure water permeation of the membranes, modified with polystyrene inner coated TNT and HNT increased by 71.23% and 80.27%, respectively compared to the pristine TFC membrane without any significant changes in the rejection of Na+ and Cu2+; a suitable trade-off between the permeation and the ion rejection. In addition, the membranes modified by magnetized polyaniline inner coated TNT and HNT showed 36.24% and 75.62% more water permeation compared to the pristine TFC membranes while the rejections of Na+ and Cu2+ have not been changed remarkably. The results of this research showed that inner coating and magnetization of the nanotubes can be considered as a novel method to enhance the efficiency of TFN membranes for wastewaters treatment. 

Overcoming the trade off between the permeation and rejection of TFN nanofiltration membranes through embedding magnetic inner surface functionalized nanotubes

Structure-performance relationships between amino acid-functionalized graphene quantum dots and self-cleaning nanofiltration membranes

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Structure-performance relationships between amino acid-functionalized graphene quantum dots and self-cleaning nanofiltration membranes