Response of Ionic Hydration Structure and Selective Transport Behavior to Aqueous Solution Chemistry during Nanofiltration

The effect of aqueous solution chemistry on the ionic hydration structure and its corresponding nanofiltration (NF) selectivity is a research gap concerning ion-selective transport. In this study, the hydration distribution of two typical monovalent anions (Cl– and NO3–) under different aqueous solution chemical conditions and the corresponding transmembrane selectivity during NF were investigated by using in situ liquid time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry in combination with molecular dynamics simulations. We demonstrate the inextricable link between the ion hydration structure and the pore steric effect and further find that ionic transmembrane transport can be regulated by breaking the balance between the hydrogen bond network (i.e., water–water) and ion hydration (i.e., ion–water) interactions of hydrated ion. For strongly hydrated (H2O)nCl– with more intense ion–water interactions, a higher salt concentration and coexisting ion competition led to a larger hydrated size and, thus, a higher ion rejection by the NF membrane, whereas weakly hydrated (H2O)nNO3– takes the reverse under the same conditions. Stronger OH–-anion hydration competition resulted in a smaller hydrated size of (H2O)nCl– and (H2O)nNO3–, showing a lower observed average hydration number at pH 10.5. This study deepens the long-overlooked understanding of NF separation mechanisms, concerning the hydration structure.