The establishment of self-healing polyethersulfone ultrafiltration membrane by host-guest interaction between the cucurbit[8]uril and objects

• Published in: Journal of water process engineering Vol. 54; p. 103999
• Main Authors: Liu, Shenghui, Shi, Yucui, Jiang, Haotian, You, Shaohong, Zhang, Jintuan, Yang, Songyu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.08.2023
• Subjects: Cucurbituril; Membrane damage; Polyethersulfone membrane; Self-healing; Ultrafiltration; Self-healing; Ultrafiltration; Polyethersulfone membrane; Membrane damage; Cucurbituril
• ISSN: 2214-7144; 2214-7144
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jwpe.2023.103999

Damage to ultrafiltration membrane during cleaning and the running of the process is known to lead to adverse loss of membrane integrity. Membranes with self-healing property will contribute to solve this problem, bypassing the need for real-time membrane integrity monitoring and replacing membrane frequently. Therefore, this study established the surface modified self-healing ultrafiltration membrane by interaction through cucurbit[8]uril (CB[8]) subject and objects. CB[8], PVA-MV and P(DMAEMA-r-NpMA) were employed as self-healing polymers to construct a self-healing layer on PES membrane surface through schiff base reaction and host-guest interaction. The comparison of permeability before and after membrane damage proved the effectiveness of membrane self-healing property. Furthermore, carbonyl groups with negative charge on CB[8] port and the hydrophilic groups in two guests gave the membrane hydrophilicity after that promoted the anti-pollution property of the membrane. The obtained membrane also showed excellent hydrophilicity, permeability and anti-pollution property, for example, the pure water flux of MPES-CB[8]0.15 reached to 1800.2 L/m2h, while BSA rejection rate could also be maintained at 89 %. The self-healing membrane MPES-CB[8]0.15 displayed a better FRR (89.1 %) compared with pure PES membrane, and the decrease of Rir (19.4 %) of MPES-CB[8]0.15 indicated that the adsorption of BSA was avoided. In a word, the self-healing membrane could not only solve the problem of loss of membrane integrity, but also improve comprehensive performance of membrane, such as hydrophilicity, permeability, thermal stability and mechanical properties. •The surface modified self-healing membrane prepared by host-guest interaction and schiff base reaction•CB[8] hydrogel endowed the PES membrane with self-healing performance.•MPES-CB[8] membrane solved the problem of loss of membrane integrity.