Fabrication of a novel thin-film nanocomposite (TFN) membrane containing MCM-41 silica nanoparticles (NPs) for water purification

• Published in: Journal of membrane science Vol. 423-424; pp. 238 - 246
• Main Authors: Yin, Jun, Kim, Eun-Sik, Yang, John, Deng, Baolin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 15.12.2012
• Subjects: artificial membranes; atomic force microscopy; Desalination; Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy; hydrophilicity; Interfacial polymerization; MCM-41 nanoparticles; nanocomposites; nanoparticles; permeability; Polyamide; polyamides; polymerization; roughness; scanning electron microscopy; silica; sodium chloride; sodium sulfate; Thin-film nanocomposite; transmission electron microscopy; water purification; zeta potential; Polyamide; Interfacial polymerization; Thin-film nanocomposite; MCM-41 nanoparticles; Desalination
• ISSN: 0376-7388
• DOI: 10.1016/j.memsci.2012.08.020

A thin-film nanocomposite (TFN) membrane containing porous MCM-41 silica nanoparticles (NPs) was prepared by the in situ interfacial polymerization (IP) process. Aqueous m-phenyl diamine (MPD) and organic trimesoyl chloride (TMC)-NPs mixture solutions were used in the IP process. Porous MCM-41 (∼100nm) and non-porous spherical silica NPs (∼100nm) were synthesized and used as the fillers to fabricate the TFN membrane at concentrations ranging from 0 to 0.1wt%. The membranes were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared (ATR FT-IR) spectroscopy, and their performances were evaluated based on the water permeability and salt rejection. Results indicated that the MCM-41 NPs dispersed well in polyamide (PA) thin-film layer and improved membrane performances under optimal concentrations. By increasing concentration of MCM-41 NPs, hydrophilicity, roughness and zeta potential of TFN membranes all increased. Notably, the permeate water flux increased from 28.5±1.0 to 46.6±1.1L/m2h with the incorporation of MCM-41 NPs, while maintaining high rejections of NaCl and Na2SO4 (97.9±0.3% and 98.5±0.2%, respectively). A comparison between the membranes with non-porous silica NPs (S-TFN) and with the porous MCM-41 NPs (M-TFN) suggested that the internal pores of MCM-41 NPs contributed significantly to the increase of water permeability. ► Synthesis of nanoscale ordered mesoporous silica (MCM-41). ► Fabrication of thin-film nano composite (TFN) membrane by MCM-41 NPs. ► Effect of concentration of nano-fillers and TFN surface characteristics. ► Comparison between the TFN membranes with non-porous NPs and with porous NPs. ► The role of internal pores of fillers was explored.