Hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin-based polyester TFC membrane for efficient antibiotic desalination

Preparation of membranes with loose structure is often required for excellent small organic molecules desalination, but remains a grand challenge. In this work, a loose thin film composite (TFC) membrane was fabricated via interfacial polymerization of hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HP-β-CD) and trimesoyl chloride. Besides, tannic acid was added in the aqueous phase to boost the rejection rate of the membrane by reducing the “outer space” distance among HP-β-CD. The resulting membrane exhibited an optimal permeability of 82.9 L m−2h−1 bar−1 along with antibiotic desalination efficiency (94.8 % for tetracycline hydrochloride and 8.5% for NaCl). Moreover, experiment results demonstrate that the tannic acid incorporated HP-β-CD-based polyester (TIHP) membrane was also endowed with enhanced chlorine resistance and antifouling ability deriving from its rich hydroxyl and polyester structures, which makes the membrane promising for the purification of antibiotics in pharmaceutical fields.