The performance
of thin film nanocomposite (TFN) membrane is significantly determined
by the inherent structure and composition of the incorporated nanofillers.
In this work, hydrophilic hollow nanocubes (HHNs) derived from zeolitic
imidazolate framework 8 (ZIF-8) were incorporated into the polyamide
layer via an interfacial polymerization approach. The HHNs with abundant
hydroxyl groups on the surface were obtained by etching solid ZIF-8
using tannic acid. Benefiting from the hydrophilicity, hollow structure,
and negative charge of HHNs, the outstanding nanofiltration performance
of the composite membrane was achieved. With the assistance of HHNs,
the permeance and Na2SO4 rejection of the TFN
membrane increased up to 19.4 ± 0.6 L/(m2·h·bar)
and 95.2 ± 1.4%, corresponding to an improvement of 190% of the
permeance and 2.0% of the rejection compared to the pristine thin
film composite membrane. Comparatively, the performance of TFN membranes
prepared with solid ZIF-8 only shows 116% improvements of the permeance
with slightly increased salt rejection. More importantly, the antifouling
property of the TFN-4H membrane was also elevated. The flux recovery
ratios of the TFN-4H membrane are 93.2 and 84.7% corresponding to
humic acid and bovine serum albumin solutions, respectively. The results
indicate that the nanofiltration performance of the composite membrane
was significantly enhanced with the incorporation of HHNs.
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