TY - JOUR
T1 - Novel thin film nanocomposite membranes decorated with few-layered boron nitride nanosheets for simultaneously enhanced water flux and organic fouling resistance
AU - Abdikheibari, Sara
AU - Lei, Weiwei
AU - Dumée, Ludovic F.
AU - Barlow, Anders J.
AU - Baskaran, Kanagaratnam
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was performed in part at the Australian National Fabrication Facility (ANFF), a company established under the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy, through the La Trobe University Centre for Materials and Surface Science. The authors gratefully acknowledge Dr. Dan Liu for the synthesis of BN(NH
Funding Information:
This work was performed in part at the Australian National Fabrication Facility (ANFF), a company established under the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy, through the La Trobe University Centre for Materials and Surface Science. The authors gratefully acknowledge Dr. Dan Liu for the synthesis of BN(NH 2 ) nanosheets, Dr. Reza Parvizi for his kind assistance in AFM analysis and mechanical testing, and the technical team of the Civil and Environmental Engineering Laboratories at Deakin University for their technical support. Mrs. Abdikheibari acknowledges Deakin University for her PhD scholarship, Dr. Lei acknowledges the ARC Discovery Program ( DP190103290 ), and Dr. Dumée acknowledges the ARC for his DECRA ( DE180100130 ) fellowship.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2019/9/15
Y1 - 2019/9/15
N2 - Operational longevity of conventional thin film composite (TFC) nanofiltration (NF) membranes is significantly challenged by natural organic matter (NOM) fouling. Besides, surface modification of TFC membranes with nanomaterials results in their partial to complete confinement within the thin film, hampering the exploitation of nanomaterials full potential in improving NF performance. Incompatibility of nanomaterials with the polymeric matrix, and the resultant defect formation in the thin film can also lead to detachment of nanomaterial from the membrane surface. Herein, a modified interfacial polymerization (IP) reaction is developed to fabricate fouling-resistant thin film nanocomposite (TFN) NF membranes decorated with few-layered amine functionalized-boron nitride BN(NH2) nanosheets. The reactive edges of nanosheets are the geneses of fantastic properties; amine functionalities and electron deficient B atoms available at the edge regions render the nanosheets highly hydrophilic and negatively charged, respectively, favouring fouling mitigation. Compared with control counterparts, membranes decorated with BN(NH2) nanosheets revealed 59% enhancement in flux and 50% improvement in total fouling resistance, while maintaining NOM separation above 92%. BN(NH2)-decorated membranes showed long-term operational stability and enhanced recoverability, and nanosheet detachment tests eliminated the possibility of BN(NH2) leaching out during filtration.
AB - Operational longevity of conventional thin film composite (TFC) nanofiltration (NF) membranes is significantly challenged by natural organic matter (NOM) fouling. Besides, surface modification of TFC membranes with nanomaterials results in their partial to complete confinement within the thin film, hampering the exploitation of nanomaterials full potential in improving NF performance. Incompatibility of nanomaterials with the polymeric matrix, and the resultant defect formation in the thin film can also lead to detachment of nanomaterial from the membrane surface. Herein, a modified interfacial polymerization (IP) reaction is developed to fabricate fouling-resistant thin film nanocomposite (TFN) NF membranes decorated with few-layered amine functionalized-boron nitride BN(NH2) nanosheets. The reactive edges of nanosheets are the geneses of fantastic properties; amine functionalities and electron deficient B atoms available at the edge regions render the nanosheets highly hydrophilic and negatively charged, respectively, favouring fouling mitigation. Compared with control counterparts, membranes decorated with BN(NH2) nanosheets revealed 59% enhancement in flux and 50% improvement in total fouling resistance, while maintaining NOM separation above 92%. BN(NH2)-decorated membranes showed long-term operational stability and enhanced recoverability, and nanosheet detachment tests eliminated the possibility of BN(NH2) leaching out during filtration.
KW - Few-layered boron nitride nanosheets
KW - Fouling control
KW - Interfacial polymerization
KW - Nanofiltration membrane
KW - Natural organic matter
KW - Thin film nanocomposite
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85067045779&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.apsusc.2019.05.217
DO - 10.1016/j.apsusc.2019.05.217
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85067045779
SN - 0169-4332
VL - 488
SP - 565
EP - 577
JO - Applied Surface Science
JF - Applied Surface Science
ER -