Ultrahigh pressure compaction-resistant thin film crosslinked composite reverse osmosis membranes
In this study, we present a class of thin-film crosslinked (TFX) composite reverse osmosis (RO) membranes that resist physical compaction at ultrahigh pressures (up to 200 bar). Since RO membranes experience compaction at virtually all pressure ranges, the ability to resist compaction has widespread implications for RO membrane technology. The process described herein involves crosslinking a phase inverted porous polyimide (PI) support membrane followed by interfacial polymerization of a polyamide layer, thereby forming a fully thermoset composite membrane structure. We explore a range of phase inversion membrane formation parameters such as PI concentration, solvent-cosolvent ratios, coagulation bath composition, and crosslinking methods in addition to interfacial polymerization reaction chemistry and conditions. Overall, TFX membranes exhibit significantly less compaction compared to hand-cast and commercial high-pressure RO membranes, experiencing less than 10% decline in water permeance and maintaining salt rejection over 99% for NaCl solutions up to 180,000 mg/L with 200 bar applied pressure.
Authors
- Yuanmiaoliang Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-7700-2749)
- Sina Shahbazmohamadi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7268-5999)
- Fiona Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-8620-1170)
- Marc Day (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1711-3963)
- Yara Suleiman
- David Jassby (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2133-2536)
- Hariswaran Sitaraman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5304-1664)
- N. A. Sreejith
- Kevin E. Pataroque (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7585-6327)
- Xinyi Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-8812-5175)
- Javier A. Quezada-Renteria (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9304-5424)
- Jeffrey R. McCutcheon (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5638-4926)
- Menachem Elimelech (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4186-1563)
- Jishan Wu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8231-0437)
- Minhao Xiao
- Hanqing Fan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0650-8924)
- Ying Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1487-3350)
- Jinlong He
- Eric M.V. Hoek (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9674-1916)
Institutions
- National Laboratory of the Rockies (US)
- University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
- University of Connecticut (US)
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (US)
- University of California, Los Angeles (US)
- Sichuan University (CN)
- Yale University (US)
- Rice University (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2025-09-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-63639-0
- Citations
- 14
- Primary Topic
- Membrane Separation Technologies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 11.44
Funders
- U.S. Department of Energy
- Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
- Wind Energy Technologies Office
- Office of Energy Efficiency