Issue 29, 2017, Issue in Progress

A durable thin-film nanofibrous composite nanofiltration membrane prepared by interfacial polymerization on a double-layer nanofibrous scaffold

Abstract

A novel kind of thin-film nanofibrous composite (TFNC) nanofiltration membrane consisting of a polypiperazine amide (PPA) barrier layer, an ultrathin electrospun poly(acrylonitrile-co-acrylic acid) (PAN–AA) transitional mid-layer and an electrospun polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofibrous supporting layer, was successfully fabricated by interfacial polymerization with piperazine (PIP) and trimesoyl chloride (TMC) onto the PAN–AA/PAN double-layer substrate. The PAN–AA nanofibrous mid-layer played two important roles between the PPA barrier layer and the PAN nanofibrous supporting layer. It could be swollen in the alkaline aqueous monomer (PIP) solution to form an intermediate hydrogel film, which acted as the transitional mid-layer to cover the majority of the large surface pores of the electrospun PAN nanofibrous substrate. On the other hand, the hydrophilic PAN–AA hydrogel film could capture and reserve abundant PIP monomer to facilitate interfacial polymerization with TMC to form an endurable ultrathin PPA barrier layer, resulting in an integrated composite membrane confirmed by the mechanical properties. The resultant TFNC membranes demonstrated a high rejection rate (98.2%) and high permeate flux (64.4 L m−2 h−1) for MgSO4 aqueous solution (2.0 g L−1), and also exhibited excellent structural stability due to the strong interactions between the barrier layer and the nanofibrous support that were enhanced by the transitional PAN–AA mid-layer.

Graphical abstract: A durable thin-film nanofibrous composite nanofiltration membrane prepared by interfacial polymerization on a double-layer nanofibrous scaffold

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
15 Jan 2017
Accepted
17 Mar 2017
First published
24 Mar 2017
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

RSC Adv., 2017,7, 18001-18013

A durable thin-film nanofibrous composite nanofiltration membrane prepared by interfacial polymerization on a double-layer nanofibrous scaffold

Y. Yang, X. Li, L. Shen, X. Wang and B. S. Hsiao, RSC Adv., 2017, 7, 18001 DOI: 10.1039/C7RA00621G

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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