Facile and Scalable Flow-Induced Deposition of Organosilica on Porous Polymer Supports for Reverse Osmosis Desalination

The fabrication of a continuous and uniform organosilica membrane on a porous polymer substrate was achieved via a facile and technologically scalable flow-induced deposition (FD) approach. The uniformity of the thickness of an organosilica separation layer on a polymer surface with a large area was improved significantly via this two-step FD approach. Meanwhile, the optimal concentration of the organosilica used in membrane preparation was also investigated. This polymer-supported organosilica layered-hybrid membrane showed a high level of NaCl rejection (97.5-99%) in the reverse osmosis desalination of a 2000 ppm NaCl solution at an operating pressure of 3 MPa. This membrane also exhibited good stability and flexibility when rolled into a curvature radius of 11 mm.