Tailoring the Performance of Organic Solvent Nanofiltration Membranes with Biophenol Coatings

Abstract

This study reports a systematic investigation of fine-tuning the filtration performance of nanofiltration membranes with biophenol coatings to produce solvent-resistant membranes with 390–1550 g mol–1 molecular weight cutoff (MWCO) and 0.5–40 L m–2 h–1 bar–1 permeance. Six kinds of inexpensive, commercial biophenols (dopamine, tannic acid, vanillyl alcohol, eugenol, morin, and quercetin) were subjected to identical oxidant-promoted polymerization to coat six kinds of loose asymmetric membrane supports: polyimide (PI), polyacrylonitrile (PAN), polysulfone (PSf), polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF), polybenzimidazole (PBI), and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). The coatings were characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and the morphologies were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The long-term stability of 42 membranes were tested in 12 organic solvents, including emerging green solvents MeTHF and Cyrene. The biophenol coatings led to tighter membranes with a decrease in MWCO of 12–79% at a penalty of a 22–92% permeance decrease in acetone.

Sustainable Fabrication of Organic Solvent Nanofiltration Membranes

“…However, recently, many greener fabrication protocols have also been reported to minimize fabrication mass intensity. In another work of Szekely et al [35], the performance of the OSN membrane was enhanced by a coating with bio-phenol materials. From the economical perspective, plantoriginated bio-phenols can be low-cost alternatives.…”

“…Compared to the pristine PBI membranes, the PDA/PBI-IPN membranes showed a robust stability in harsh aprotic solvents with good NF performances. In another work of Szekely et al [35], the performance of the OSN membrane was enhanced by a coating with bio-phenol materials. From the economical perspective, plant-originated bio-phenols can be low-cost alternatives.…”

Molecular engineering of high-performance nanofiltration membranes from intrinsically microporous poly(ether-ether-ketone)

“…The MWCO values showed good correlation with the pore size diameter, which was obtained from the pore ow model using the styrene rejection values. [33][34][35] The tightest membranes displayed lower MWCO and lower pore size diameters, and vice versa in the case of the more open membranes.…”

Dye Separation and Antibacterial Activities of Polyaniline Thin Film-Coated Poly(phenyl sulfone) Membranes

“…Hydrophilic polymers and nanoparticles with functional groups have been used to modify membrane surfaces via various approaches, such as coating, grafting, and bulk modification. Surface coatings have recently generated significant interest as an attractive means of hydrophilic membrane modification [ 9 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 ]. Surface coatings offer several advantages, such as low cost and facile adoption.…”