Preparation of High-Performance Composite Nanofiltration Membrane with Porous Nanoparticle Interlayer

High-performance nanofiltration membranes play an indispensable role in mitigating worldwide water scarcity. This study implements a porous nanoparticle interlayer strategy, utilizing dendritic mesoporous silica nanoparticles (DMSNs) and multicavity mesoporous polydopamine nanoparticles (MPDNs) to construct interlayers on a polysulfone (PSF) substrate. The synthesis of thin-film nanocomposite (TFN) membranes was accomplished through an interfacial polymerization process. The introduction of these interlayers significantly improved the substrate’s hydrophilicity and monomer storage capacity, while effectively tailoring the cross-linking degree and physicochemical properties of the polyamide separation layer. Consequently, the optimized membranes, TFN-DMSNs0.9 and TFN-MPDNs0.6, achieved remarkable water flux enhancements of 140.4% and 101.1%, respectively, while maintaining a high Na 2 SO 4 rejection rate exceeding 98%.