Novel nanofibrous microfiltration and ultrafiltration membranes with high permeability have been prepared by integrating ultra-fine cellulose nanofibers (UCN) with diameters of about 5 nm, electrospun polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofibers with diameters of about 150 nm, and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) non-woven microfibrous mats with diameters of about20mm. The electrospun nanofibrous scaffold deposited on the PET non-woven mat served as an asymmetric two-layered substrate for the membrane preparation. When UCN was used as a functionalized adsorbent infused in the substrate, the membranes exhibited excellent ability to remove bacteria (by size exclusion), viruses, as well as heavy metal ions (by adsorption) suitable for microfiltration with superior selectivity. When UCN was used as the barrier layer integrated on the top of the PAN substrate, the membranes exhibited a two to ten-fold increase in permeation flux over commercial ultrafiltration membranes. The combination of interfacially polymerized polyamides and UCN can further create a nanocomposite barrier layer that contains directed water channels with increased permeability for nanofiltration. The channels are formed at the interface between the interconnected UCN scaffold and the polymer matrix, and are able to guide the transport of water molecules in a directed manner and also to exclude contaminant molecules.

Highly permeable nanofibrous membranes for energy efficient water purification

245th National Meeting (2013)

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