Preparation of ‘Extended Range’ thin-film nanocomposite reverse osmosis membrane with excellent permeability and selectivity

Thin-film nanocomposite (TFN) membrane possesses great potential in breaking through the ‘trade-off’ effect, in which nanomaterials are incorporated in the polyamide layer to improve the membrane structure as well as provide extra lower-resistance water channel. However, the aggregation of nanoparticles under high loading concentration always induces decline of salt rejection though higher water flux can be achieved. Inspired by the concept of ‘Extended Range Electric Vehicles’, 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DOPC) liposomes were selected as the extended range materials to make up the defects of TFN membranes that excess palygorskite (Pal) brought in present study. The results showed that 1.3 mg/ml loading concentration of Pal led to dramatic decline of NaCl rejection from 99.3 % to 96.8 % though 63.1 % flux enhancement achieved compared to thin-film composite (TFC) membranes. Incorporation of 0.008 mg/ml DOPC liposomes brought further 55.5 % flux enhancement compared to TFN-Pal1.3 membrane and total 153.6 % increment compared to TFC membranes (1.98 → 5.02 L/m2·h·bar). Most importantly, the NaCl rejection of TFN-Pal1.3-DOPC0.008 membranes reverted to 99.1 % and the flux recovery rate increased to 92 %. This study provides novel method for increasing the loading concentration of nanoparticles in the selective layer combined with better dispersion, and demonstrates the feasibility of the concept of ‘Extended Range’ TFN reverse osmosis (RO) membrane.