Holey Ti3C2 nanosheets based membranes for efficient separation and removal of microplastics from water

The accumulation of non-degradable microplastics (MPs) originated from the mass production and huge consumption of plastics of modern industry in the water environment has resulted in severe pollution problems globally. Herein, we report for the first time the preparation of holey Ti3C2Tx (h-Ti3C2Tx) membranes obtained by etching Co3O4 nanoparticles embedded on Ti3C2Tx nanosheets followed by simple vacuum filtration using polymeric membranes as supporting matrix for efficient removal of MPs from wastewater. The h-Ti3C2Tx nanosheets exhibit a planar porous structure which present nano-holes with an average hole-size of 25 nm in diameter, which facilitated the construction of membranes with better water flux for the separation of MPs. Using fluorescent PS (FP) microspheres of different diameters as microplastic models, the obtained h-Ti3C2Tx membranes exhibited extremely high MPs removal performance (up to 99.3% under our conditions). Moreover, a large water flux of 196.7 L h-1 m-2 k Pa-1 can be obtained, which can compete or be larger than that of most of the membranes composed of untreated two-dimension nanomaterials. Due to the physicochemical stability, tremendous large water reflux, and the high MPs removal efficiency of h-Ti3C2Tx membranes, there may be a great potential for practical applications in the separation and removal of various contaminants such as MPs or suspended solids from water.