Preparation of high-performance membrane by polymerisation of MXene intermediate layer

In the present work, we developed an efficient strategy to prepare high performance nanofiltration membrane. The polyethersulfone (PES) substructure were chosen as a support layer. Dopamine, polyethyleneimine (PEI) and MXene were used to modification the PES through co-deposition as intermediate layer. The physicochemical properties of membranes were analysed to confirm the successful modification. These modification membrane was evaluated through separation of aqueous salt solution (sodium sulphate (Na2SO4), magnesium sulphate (MgSO4), magnesium chloride (MgCl2), and sodium chloride (NaCl)). Results showed that the modified membranes exhibit enhanced hydrophilicity and reduced surface charge, which contributed to improved antifouling performance. The separation performance demonstrated that the modified membranes exhibiting higher water permeance and enhanced salt rejection. Typically, the optimum membrane achieved a water permeance of 22.25, 19.63, 21.34, and 23.36 L·m−2·h·−1·bar−1 for sodium sulphate, magnesium sulphate, magnesium chloride, and sodium chloride solution, respectively. Compared with the pristine membrane, the membrane modified by dopamine/PEI and nanofiller present significant enhanced of about 58.92%, 46.49%, 47.17%, and 53.68%, respectively. Moreover, the long-term stability tests were carried out. The membrane exhibited stable separation performance during the 75 h continuous test. This novel strategy provides a promising route to fabricate composite membranes, indicating great potential for practical wastewater treatment.