Design and synthesis of Al-MOF/PPSU mixed matrix membrane with pollution resistance

To enhance the performance of the polyphenylene sulfone (PPSU) membrane, a novel mixed matrix membrane with hydrophilicity and antifouling properties was prepared. Using PPSU as the basic membrane material, polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) as the porogen, N-Methyl pyrrolidone (NMP) as the solvent, and MOF-CAU-1 (Al4(OH)2(OCH3)4(H2N-BDC)3·xH2O) as the filler, PPSU/CAU-1 mixed matrix membrane (MMM) was prepared by an immersion precipitation and phase transformation technique. By changing the amount of MOF-CAU-1, the properties and performance of the MMM membrane were investigated in terms of hydrophilicity, pore morphology, surface roughness, and dye removal. The results show that the highest pure water flux of the mixed reached 47.9 L·m−2·h−1, when the CAU-1 addition amount was 1.0 wt%, which was 23% higher than that of the pure PPSU membrane. Both the rejection rate and the antifouling performance of the MMM membrane also noticeably improved.