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An innovative strategy for improving the performance of forward osmosis membrane: stripe-like Turing structure constructed by introducing hydrophilic polyvinylpyrrolidone

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Abstract

Improving the performance of forward osmosis (FO) membranes has always been moving forward. Here we fabricate the novel Turing structures in the active layer (AL) of thin film composite (TFC) membrane through effectively introducing the polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) macromolecule with hydrophilicity both in the support layer (SL) and AL. The addition of PVP facilitates the formation of sponge-like pores in the SL and stripe-like Turing structures in the AL. The influence of PVP on the morphology and performance of the membranes was investigated by SEM, AFM, XPS, NMR, FTIR. Compared with the water flux (Jw) of the original composite membrane (approximately 25 L m−2 h−1), TFC-PVP (3:1) membrane with Turing structure achieved better performance (approximately 75 L m−2 h−1), and the reverse solute flux/water flux (Js/Jw) value was as low as 0.02 g/L. This study demonstrated that the Turing structures have a favorable effect on the performance of FO membrane and a promisingly practical application in water treatment.

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Acknowledgements

This study is financially supported by the Key Research and Development Plan of Tian** (20YFZCSN00430), the Key Research and Development Plan of Tian** (17YFNZNC00060), the Key Scientific and Technological Support Projects (No. 19YFZCSF01090), Huadian Aqua Membrane Separation Technology (Tian**) Co. Ltd. We would like to thank Editage (www.editage.cn) for English language editing.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tian** University, Tian**, 300072, China

    Siqi Zhang & Huizhen Zhu

  2. School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tian** University, Tian**, 300072, China

    Shejiang Liu, Hui Ding, Dan Zhao & Jianfeng Fu

  3. Huadian Aqua Membrane Separation Technology (Tian**) Co. Ltd., Tian**, 301700, China

    Mengling Zhang

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  1. Siqi Zhang
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Correspondence to Hui Ding.

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Zhang, S., Liu, S., Ding, H. et al. An innovative strategy for improving the performance of forward osmosis membrane: stripe-like Turing structure constructed by introducing hydrophilic polyvinylpyrrolidone. J Mater Sci 55, 16482–16496 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-020-05151-y

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