Shandong Key Laboratory of Water Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shandong University, Qingdao 266237, Shandong, PR China.
Water Resources Research Institute of Shandong Province, Shandong Key Laboratory of Water Resources and Environment, Jinan 250014, Shandong, PR China.
Sci Total Environ. 2021 May 20;770:145370. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.145370. Epub 2021 Jan 23.
Triple-layered thin film composite (TFC) forward osmosis (FO) membranes prepared on interlayer-based supports have overcome the limitations of conventional porous substrates due to the formation of ultrathin and highly selective polyamide (PA) layers. However, mitigating the internal concentration polarization (ICP) and biofouling of TFC membranes remain a great challenge. Herein, we designed a novel triple-layered thin film nanocomposite (TFN) FO membrane with incorporation of silver (Ag) decorated graphene oxide quantum dots (GOQD) into PA layer via interfacial polymerization on a carbon nanotube (CNT) interlayer-based polyether sulfone substrate. By contrast with the TFC membranes, the newly developed GOQD/Ag incorporated triple-layered TFN membrane (TFN-GOQD/Ag) exhibited a great alleviation for ICP accompanied with a prominently enhanced water flux of 65.8 L·m·h and decreased specific reverse salt flux of 1.4 g·m·h by employing 1 M NaCl solution as draw solution. Moreover, the TFN-GOQD/Ag membrane possessed prominent antibacterial activity against both E. coli (99.8%) and S. aureus (97.3%). Noteworthy, the obtained TFN membrane demonstrated a controlled release of Ag along with long-term antibacterial potential and outstanding fouling resistance during the FO process. This work provides a new avenue to fabricate newly FO membranes with superior performance for water cleaning treatment.
三层复合薄膜（TFC）反渗透（RO）膜在中间层支撑体上制备，克服了传统多孔基底的局限性，因为形成了超薄且高度选择性的聚酰胺（PA）层。然而，减轻 TFC 膜的内部浓差极化（ICP）和生物污染仍然是一个巨大的挑战。在此，我们设计了一种新型三层复合薄膜纳米复合（TFN）RO 膜，通过在碳纳米管（CNT）中间层聚醚砜基底上的界面聚合，将银（Ag）修饰的氧化石墨烯量子点（GOQD）掺入到 PA 层中。与 TFC 膜相比，新开发的 GOQD/Ag 掺入的三层 TFN 膜（TFN-GOQD/Ag）在 ICP 方面表现出了极大的缓解，同时在使用 1 M NaCl 溶液作为汲取液时，水通量显著提高到 65.8 L·m·h，而特定的反向盐通量降低到 1.4 g·m·h。此外，TFN-GOQD/Ag 膜对大肠杆菌（99.8%）和金黄色葡萄球菌（97.3%）均具有显著的抗菌活性。值得注意的是，所获得的 TFN 膜在 FO 过程中具有控制 Ag 的释放、长期抗菌潜力和出色的抗污染能力。这项工作为制备具有优异性能的新型 FO 膜提供了一条新途径，用于水的清洁处理。
