Yao Yujian, Zhang Pingxia, Sun Fei, Zhang Wen, Li Meng, Sha Gang, Teng Long, Wang Xianze, Huo Mingxin, DuChanois Ryan M, Cao Tianchi, Boo Chanhee, Zhang Xuan, Elimelech Menachem
Key Laboratory of New Membrane Materials, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, School of Environmental and Biological Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing 210094, China.
Key Laboratory of Science and Technology on High-Tech Polymer Materials, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.
Science. 2024 Apr 19;384(6693):333-338. doi: 10.1126/science.adk0632. Epub 2024 Apr 18.
Thin-film composite reverse osmosis membranes have remained the gold standard technology for desalination and water purification for nearly half a century. Polyamide films offer excellent water permeability and salt rejection but also suffer from poor chlorine resistance, high fouling propensity, and low boron rejection. We addressed these issues by molecularly designing a polyester thin-film composite reverse osmosis membrane using co-solvent-assisted interfacial polymerization to react 3,5-dihydroxy-4-methylbenzoic acid with trimesoyl chloride. This polyester membrane exhibits substantial water permeability, high rejection for sodium chloride and boron, and complete resistance toward chlorine. The ultrasmooth, low-energy surface of the membrane also prevents fouling and mineral scaling compared with polyamide membranes. These membranes could increasingly challenge polyamide membranes by further optimizing water-salt selectivity, offering a path to considerably reducing pretreatment steps in desalination.
近半个世纪以来，薄膜复合反渗透膜一直是海水淡化和水净化的金标准技术。聚酰胺膜具有优异的水渗透性和脱盐率，但耐氯性差、易污染且硼截留率低。我们通过分子设计，采用共溶剂辅助界面聚合使3,5 - 二羟基 - 4 - 甲基苯甲酸与均苯三甲酰氯反应，制备了一种聚酯薄膜复合反渗透膜，以解决这些问题。这种聚酯膜具有较高的水渗透性、对氯化钠和硼的高截留率以及完全的耐氯性。与聚酰胺膜相比，该膜超光滑、低能的表面还能防止污染和矿物质结垢。通过进一步优化水盐选择性，这些膜可能会对聚酰胺膜构成越来越大的挑战，为大幅减少海水淡化预处理步骤提供了一条途径。
