Wu Jishan, Quezada-Renteria Javier A, He Jinlong, Xiao Minhao, Chen Yuanmiaoliang, Fan Hanqing, Wang Xinyi, Chen Fiona, Pataroque Kevin, Suleiman Yara, Shahbazmohamadi Sina, Sreejith N A, Sitaraman Hariswaran, Day Marc, Li Ying, Jassby David, McCutcheon Jeffrey R, Elimelech Menachem, Hoek Eric M V
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA.
Nat Commun. 2025 Sep 1;16(1):8165. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-63639-0.
In this study, we present a class of thin-film crosslinked (TFX) composite reverse osmosis (RO) membranes that resist physical compaction at ultrahigh pressures (up to 200 bar). Since RO membranes experience compaction at virtually all pressure ranges, the ability to resist compaction has widespread implications for RO membrane technology. The process described herein involves crosslinking a phase inverted porous polyimide (PI) support membrane followed by interfacial polymerization of a polyamide layer, thereby forming a fully thermoset composite membrane structure. We explore a range of phase inversion membrane formation parameters such as PI concentration, solvent-cosolvent ratios, coagulation bath composition, and crosslinking methods in addition to interfacial polymerization reaction chemistry and conditions. Overall, TFX membranes exhibit significantly less compaction compared to hand-cast and commercial high-pressure RO membranes, experiencing less than 10% decline in water permeance and maintaining salt rejection over 99% for NaCl solutions up to 180,000 mg/L with 200 bar applied pressure.
在本研究中，我们展示了一类薄膜交联（TFX）复合反渗透（RO）膜，其在超高压（高达200巴）下能抵抗物理压实。由于RO膜在几乎所有压力范围内都会发生压实，因此抵抗压实的能力对RO膜技术具有广泛影响。本文所述的过程包括对相转化多孔聚酰亚胺（PI）支撑膜进行交联，然后进行聚酰胺层的界面聚合，从而形成完全热固性的复合膜结构。除了界面聚合反应化学和条件外，我们还探索了一系列相转化膜形成参数，如PI浓度、溶剂 - 共溶剂比例、凝固浴组成和交联方法。总体而言，与手工浇铸和商业高压RO膜相比，TFX膜的压实程度明显更低，在施加200巴压力时，对于高达180,000毫克/升的NaCl溶液，水通量下降不到10%，同时盐截留率保持在99%以上。
