Vatanpour Vahid, Mahdiei Sara, Arefi-Oskoui Samira, Khataee Alireza, Orooji Yasin
Department of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, Kharazmi University, Tehran, 15719-14911, Iran; Environmental Engineering Department, Istanbul Technical University, Maslak, Istanbul, 34469, Turkey.
Department of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, Kharazmi University, Tehran, 15719-14911, Iran.
Chemosphere. 2023 Dec;344:140309. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2023.140309. Epub 2023 Oct 3.
In this study, considering the serious problem of lack of fresh water worldwide and the effectiveness of reverse osmosis (RO) membranes in water purification, we prepared improved RO membranes with two-dimensional quasi-MXene nanosheets. In this study, the MAX phase with the chemical formula of TiAlN was prepared through the reactive sintering route. Prosperous preparation of the MAX phase with the hexagonal crystalline structure was approved by an X-ray diffraction pattern. Compacted sheets morphology was recognized for the prepared MAX phase from transmittance electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy micrographs. Then, TiNT quasi-MXene nanosheets were prepared by selective ultrasonic-assisted exfoliation of the MAX phase. Polyamide (PA) thin-layer composite RO membranes with different weight percentages of TiNT quasi-MXene were fabricated by the interfacial polymerization (IP) method. The addition of ultrasonic-assisted prepared quasi-MXene creates numerous and coherent nanochannels on the surface of the membrane. The optimum membrane with 0.01 wt% of quasi-MXene showed the highest pure water flux of 31.9 L m. h with an improved salt rejection of 98.2%. Therefore, these nanosheets showed that they can partially solve the trade-off between water permeability and salt rejection, which is a serious challenge in RO membranes. Also, the membranes containing quasi-MXene showed good resistance against fouling by humic acid. This research can be a scalable development in making high-performance membranes.
在本研究中，考虑到全球淡水资源短缺的严峻问题以及反渗透（RO）膜在水净化方面的有效性，我们用二维准MXene纳米片制备了改进的RO膜。在本研究中，通过反应烧结路线制备了化学式为TiAlN的MAX相。X射线衍射图谱证实了具有六方晶体结构的MAX相的成功制备。通过透射电子显微镜和扫描电子显微镜照片可以看出，所制备的MAX相呈现出致密片状形态。然后，通过对MAX相进行选择性超声辅助剥离制备了TiNT准MXene纳米片。采用界面聚合法制备了具有不同重量百分比TiNT准MXene的聚酰胺（PA）薄层复合RO膜。超声辅助制备的准MXene的添加在膜表面形成了大量连贯的纳米通道。含有0.01 wt%准MXene的最佳膜显示出最高纯水通量为31.9 L m²·h，同时提高了脱盐率，达到98.2%。因此，这些纳米片表明它们可以部分解决水渗透性和脱盐率之间的权衡问题，这是RO膜面临的一个严峻挑战。此外，含有准MXene的膜对腐殖酸污染表现出良好的抗性。这项研究在制造高性能膜方面具有可扩展的发展前景。
