Reductant-assisted polydopamine-modified membranes for efficient water purification

Abstract

Surface engineering with polydopamine coatings has been considered a promising surface functionalisation tool. However, it is difficult to control the self-polymerisation for polydopamine formation, which usually causes severe interparticle aggregation. In this study, polydopamine self-polymerisation was controlled by adjusting its reducing environment using a reductant (NaBH₄) to fabricate mixed cellulose ester (MCE)/polydopamine membranes. An oxidising environment using NaIO₄ was additionally tested as the control. The results showed that a thin polydopamine coating with small polydopamine particles was formed on the skeleton frameworks of the MCE membrane with NaBH₄, and the self-polymerisation rate was suppressed. The polydopamine coating formed in the reducing environment facilitated excellent water transport performance with a water permeance of approximately 400 L·m⁻²·h⁻¹·bar⁻¹ as well as efficient organic foulant removal with a bovine serum albumin rejection of approximately 90%. In addition, the polydopamine coating with NaBH₄ exhibited both excellent chemical stability and anti-microbial activity, demonstrating the contribution of the reducing environment to the performance of the MCE/polydopamine membranes. It shows significant potential for use in water purification.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

membrane / water purification / polydopamine / reducing environment / self-polymerization control

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 21878279), Fundamental Research funds for the Central Universities (No. 201841012), Natural science fund of Shandong Province Project (No. ZR2018MB032). There was no conflict of interest.

Electronic Supplementary Material

Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11705-020-1987-9 and is accessible for authorized users.

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