Ultrathin Film Composite Membranes Fabricated by Novel In Situ Free Interfacial Polymerization for Desalination

• DOI: 10.1021/acsami.0c05166
• Publication Date: 2020-05-05T20:15:56Z
• Authors: Chi Jiang; Liping Zhang; Peng Li; Haixiang Sun; Yingfei Hou; Q. Jason Niu
• Keywords: Interfacial polymerization; Thin-film composite membrane; Nanofiltration; Permeance

Ultrathin polyamide nanofilms are desirable as the separation layers for highly permeable thin-film composite (TFC) membranes, and recently, their lowest thickness limits have attracted a lot of attention from researchers. Due to interference underlying substrate, preparing defect-free, ultrathin nanofilm directly on top membrane substrate remains great challenge. Herein, we report novel fabrication technique TFC named in situ free interfacial polymerization (IFIP), where IP reaction occurs at uniform, oil-water interface dozens microns above then resulting spontaneously assembles into structure without extra manual transfer. This IFIP method not only overcomes limitations conventional IP, succeeding ultrathin-nanofilm membranes nanofiltration reverse osmosis application, but also enables scale manufacturing that is feasible via previously reported free-standing IP. Based method, was successfully reduced ca. 3-4 nm, which believe close limit application. Meanwhile, structure-performance relationship revealed strategy increasing permeance by reducing layer had limit. Besides, mechanisms regard formation surface morphology film growth were explored combining experimental molecular simulation methods. Overall, this work expected push forward fundamental study practical application ultrathin-film membrane.