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Positively charged loose nanofiltration membranes prepared by a green ionic cross-link method

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Abstract

Positively charged loose nanofiltration membranes were prepared via a green ionic cross-link method, without using of harmful solvents and extra cross-linkers. Sulfonated poly-ether-ether-ketone (SPEEK) was incorporated into PES membrane to introduce negatively charged sites. Branched PEI, which contains primary amino groups and secondary amino groups, was used as polycation to deposit on the SPEEK functionalized PES support. A dense separation layer of polyelectrolyte complex was formed through the ionic cross-linking between the amine groups in PEI and the sulfuric acid groups in SPEEK, evidenced by the ATR-IR, XPS, SEM and AFM results. The membrane with water permeance around 20 L/(m2·h·bar) and molecular weight cut-off around 600 Da (characterized by PEGs) was obtained at optimized conditions. The membrane can reject dyes with molecular weight down to 300 Da, with lower rejections of monovalent and divalent salts. In addition, the influences of post-treatment and the PEI deposition parameters on the membrane performance were investigated. The heat treatment improved the membrane performance in terms of rejection by stabilizing the polyelectrolyte complexes. The glycerol treatment protected the membrane from pore collapses during thermal annealing, resulting in membranes with acceptable permeances.

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Acknowledgements

Research support from National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number: 21808174) is gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemical Engineering and Pharmacy, Wuhan Institute of Technology, Wuhan, 430073, People’s Republic of China

    Chenwei Li, Dujuan Hu, Ling Liu, Cunwen Wang & Yanbo Li

  2. Key Laboratory for Green Chemical Process of Ministry of Education, Hubei Key Laboratory of Novel Chemical Reactor and Green Chemical Technology, Wuhan, 430073, People’s Republic of China

    Chenwei Li, Dujuan Hu, Ling Liu, Cunwen Wang & Yanbo Li

  3. Engineering Research Center of Environmental Materials and Membrane Technology of Hubei Province, Wuhan, Hubei, China

    Li Zhu, Man Xu, Cunwen Wang & Yanbo Li

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  1. Chenwei Li
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  2. Dujuan Hu
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Correspondence to Yanbo Li.

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Li, C., Hu, D., Liu, L. et al. Positively charged loose nanofiltration membranes prepared by a green ionic cross-link method. J Mater Sci 57, 3067–3082 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-021-06857-3

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