Carbon nanotube (CNT) was modified and employed as a scaffold on hydrolyzed polyacrylonitrile (hPAN) ultrafiltration membrane support to conduct interfacial polymerization between PIP and 1,3,5-Benzenetricarbonyl trichloride (TMC). The prepared PA composite membrane with modified CNTs (PA–mCNT) exhibited dense crumpled texture with super high hydrophilicity, which was then subjected to pervaporation desalination. The influences of surface morphology, feed temperature, salt concentration and composition on pervaporation performances of PA composite membranes were systematically investigated. Due to higher permeable membrane area of crumpled surface and lower overall transport resistance of modified CNT scaffold, ultrahigh flux and outstanding rejection performance with good stability could be anticipated for prepared membranes in application of pervaporation desalination, even for hypersaline solution and acid salt solution. At 70 °C, the water flux could reach to 88.5 kg m<sup>–2</sup> h<sup>–1</sup> with the ideal rejection performance (99.99%) using 3.5 wt% NaCl aqueous solution as the feed, which was superior to almost all the reported functional pervaporation membranes in the literature. The results in this report demonstrated that the PA–mCNT composite membrane with crumpled texture acquired great potentials in seawater desalination. It is believed that the results obtained in this study would provide new inspirations for developing novel high-quality PA membranes applied in efficient pervaporation desalination.

Fabrication of polyamide–carbon nanotube composite membranes for significantly enhanced pervaporation desalination

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.