Surface modification of mesoporous silica nanoparticle with 4-triethoxysilylaniline to enhance seawater desalination properties of thin-film nanocomposite reverse osmosis membranes

Highlight

• Mesoporous silica nanoparticle was modified with 4-triethoxysilylaniline.

• AMSN-based TFN-RO membranes were prepared for seawater desalination.

• Water transport capability of the AMSN was limited by polyamide.

• Polyamide still plays a key role in permeability of the TFN RO membranes.

Abstract

Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSN), with higher water permeability than NaA zeolite, were used to fabricate thin-film nanocomposite (TFN) reverse osmosis (RO) membranes. However, only aminoalkyl-modified MSN and low-pressure (less than 2.1 MPa) RO membrane were investigated. In this study, aminophenyl-modified MSN (AMSN) were synthesized and used to fabricate high-pressure (5.52 MPa) RO membranes. With the increasing of AMSN dosage, the crosslinking degree of the aromatic polyamide decreased, while the hydrophilicity of the membranes increased. The membrane morphology was maintained to show a ridge-and-valley structure, with only a slight increase in membrane surface roughness. At the optimum conditions (AMSN dosage of 0.25 g/L), when compared with the pure polyamide RO membrane, the water flux of the TFN RO membrane (55.67 L/m²/h) was increased by about 21.6%, while NaCl rejection (98.97%) was slightly decreased by only 0.29%. However, the water flux of the membranes was much lower than expected. We considered that the enhancement of RO membrane permeability is attributed to the reduction of the effective thickness of the PA layer.

Keywords

Thin film nanocomposite membrane / Reverse osmosis / Seawater desalination / Aminophenyl-functionalized mesoporous silica nanoparticles

参考文献

[1] Amy G, Ghaffour N, Li Z, Francis L, Linares R V, Missimer T, Lattemann S (2017). Membrane-based seawater desalination: Present and future prospects. Desalination, 401: 16–21

[2] Baig M I, Ingole P G, Choi W K, Jeon J, Jang B, Moon J H, Lee H K (2017). Synthesis and characterization of thin film nanocomposite membranes incorporated with surface functionalized silicon nanoparticles for improved water vapor permeation performance. Chemical Engineering Journal, 308: 27–39

[3] Bao M, Zhu G, Wang L, Wang M, Gao C (2013). Preparation of monodispersed spherical mesoporous nanosilica–polyamide thin film composite reverse osmosis membranes via interfacial polymerization. Desalination, 309: 261–266

[4] Chae H, Lee C, Park P, Kim I, Kim J (2017). Synergetic effect of graphene oxide nanosheets embedded in the active and support layers on the performance of thin-film composite membranes. Journal of Membrane Science, 525: 99–106

[5] Chen H, Sun Z, Shao J (2011). Investigation on FT-IR spectroscopy for eight different sources of SiO₂. Bulletin of the Chinese Ceramic Society, 30(04): 934–937

[6] Cohen-Tanugi D, McGovern R K, Dave S H, Lienhard J H, Grossman J C (2014). Quantifying the potential of ultra-permeable membranes for water desalination. Energy & Environmental Science, 7(3): 1134–1141

[7] Das R, Ali M E, Hamid S B A, Ramakrishna S, Chowdhury Z Z (2014). Carbon nanotube membranes for water purification: A bright future in water desalination. Desalination, 336: 97–109

[8] Farahbakhsh J, Delnavaz M, Vatanpour V (2017). Investigation of raw and oxidized multiwalled carbon nanotubes in fabrication of reverse osmosis polyamide membranes for improvement in desalination and antifouling properties. Desalination, 410: 1–9

[9] Guo X, Li C, Li C, Wei T, Tong L, Shao H, Zhou Q, Wang L, Liao Y (2019). G-CNTs/PVDF mixed matrix membranes with improved antifouling properties and filtration performance. Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering, 13(6): 81–91

[10] Han Y, Jiang Y, Gao C (2015). High-flux graphene oxide nanofiltration membrane intercalated by carbon nanotubes. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 7(15): 8147–8155

[11] Han Y, Xu Z, Gao C (2013). Ultrathin graphene nanofiltration membrane for water purification. Advanced Functional Materials, 23(29): 3693–3700

[12] Huang L, Zhang M, Li C, Shi G (2015). Graphene-Based Membranes for Molecular Separation. The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 6(14): 2806–2815

[13] Jeong B, Hoek E M V, Yan Y, Subramani A, Huang X, Hurwitz G, Ghosh A K, Jawor A (2007). Interfacial polymerization of thin film nanocomposites: A new concept for reverse osmosis membranes. Journal of Membrane Science, 294(1-2): 1–7

[14] Kadhom M, Yin J, Deng B (2016). A thin film nanocomposite membrane with MCM-41 silica nanoparticles for brackish water purification. Membranes, 6(4): 50

[15] Kim E S, Hwang G, Gamal El-Din M G, Liu Y (2012). Development of nanosilver and multi-walled carbon nanotubes thin-film nanocomposite membrane for enhanced water treatment. Journal of Membrane Science, 394–395: 37–48

[16] Kim H J, Choi K, Baek Y, Kim D G, Shim J, Yoon J, Lee J C (2014). High-performance reverse osmosis CNT/polyamide nanocomposite membrane by controlled interfacial interactions. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 6(4): 2819–2829

[17] Kim S G, Hyeon D H, Chun J H, Chun B, Kim S H (2013). Nanocomposite poly (arylene ether sulfone) reverse osmosis membrane containing functional zeolite nanoparticles for seawater desalination. Journal of Membrane Science, 443: 10–18

[18] Lau W J, Gray S, Matsuura T, Emadzadeh D, Paul Chen J, Ismail A F (2015). A review on polyamide thin film nanocomposite (TFN) membranes: History, applications, challenges and approaches. Water Research, 80: 306–324

[19] Lee H S, Im S J, Kim J H, Kim H J, Kim J P, Min B R (2008). Polyamide thin-film nanofiltration membranes containing TiO₂ nanoparticles. Desalination, 219(1–3): 48–56

[20] Lee J, Jang J H, Chae H R, Lee S H, LeeC H, Park P K, Won Y J, Kim I C (2015). A facile route to enhance the water flux of thin-film composite reverse osmosis membrane: Incorporating thickness-controlled graphene oxide in highly porous support layer. Journal of Materials Chemistry. A, Materials for Energy and Sustainability, 3(44): 22053–22060

[21] Li L, Liu N, McPherson B, Lee R (2008). Influence of counter ions on the reverse osmosis through MFI zeolite membranes: Implications for produced water desalination. Desalination, 228(1-3): 217–225

[22] Li Q, Yu H, Wu F, Song J, Pan X, Zhang M (2016). Fabrication of semi-aromatic polyamide/spherical mesoporous silica nanocomposite reverse osmosis membrane with superior permeability. Applied Surface Science, 363: 338–345

[23] Lind M L, Ghosh A K, Jawor A, Huang X, Hou W, Yang Y, Hoek E M V (2009). Influence of zeolite crystal size on zeolite-polyamide thin film nanocomposite membranes. Langmuir, 25(17): 10139–10145

[24] Lind M L, Suk D E, Nguyen T V, Hoek E (2010). Tailoring the structure of thin film nanocomposite membranes to achieve seawater RO membrane performance. Environmental Science & Technology, 44(21): 8230–8235

[25] Liu L, Zhu G, Liu Z, Gao C (2016). Effect of MCM-48 nanoparticles on the performance of thin film nanocomposite membranes for reverse osmosis application. Desalination, 394: 72–82

[26] Liu Q, Xu G (2016). Graphene oxide (GO) as functional material in tailoring polyamide thin film composite (PA-TFC) reverse osmosis (RO) membranes. Desalination, 394: 162–175

[27] Lu S, Wang D, Jiang S P, Xiang Y, Lu J, Zeng J (2010). HPW/MCM-41 phosphotungstic acid/mesoporous silica composites as novel proton-exchange membranes for elevated-temperature fuel cells. Advanced Materials, 22(9): 971–976

[28] Mahmoud K A, Mansoor B, Mansour A, Khraisheh M (2015). Functional graphene nanosheets: The next generation membranes for water desalination. Desalination, 356: 208–225

[29] Manawi Y, Kochkodan V, Hussein M A, Khaleel M A, Khraisheh M, Hilal N (2016). Can carbon-based nanomaterials revolutionize membrane fabrication for water treatment and desalination? Desalination, 391: 69–88

[30] Niksefat N, Jahanshahi M, Rahimpour A (2014). The effect of SiO₂ nanoparticles on morphology and performance of thin film composite membranes for forward osmosis application. Desalination, 343: 140–146

[31] Pang R, Zhang K (2018). Fabrication of hydrophobic fluorinated silica-polyamide thin film nanocomposite reverse osmosis membranes with dramatically improved salt rejection. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 510: 127–132

[32] Park H B, Kamcev J, Robeson L M, Elimelech M, Freeman B D (2017a). Maximizing the right stuff: The trade-off between membrane permeability and selectivity. Science, 356(6343): eaab0530

[33] Park H M, Jee K Y, Lee Y T (2017b). Preparation and characterization of a thin-film composite reverse osmosis membrane using a polysulfone membrane including metal-organic frameworks. Journal of Membrane Science, 541: 510–518

[34] Park K T, Kim S G, Chun B, Bang J, Kim S H (2010). Sulfonated poly (arylene ether sulfone) thin-film composite reverse osmosis membrane containing SiO₂ nano-particles. Desalination and Water Treatment, 15(1–3): 69–75

[35] Pendergast M M, Hoek E M V (2011). A review of water treatment membrane nanotechnologies. Energy & Environmental Science, 4(6): 1946–1971

[36] Rajaeian B, Rahimpour A, Tade M O, Liu S (2013). Fabrication and characterization of polyamide thin film nanocomposite (TFN) nanofiltration membrane impregnated with TiO₂ nanoparticles. Desalination, 313: 176–188

[37] Tian X, Wang J, Zhang H, Cao Z, Zhao M, Guan Y, Zhang Y (2018). Establishment of transport channels with carriers for water in reverse osmosis membrane by incorporating hydrotalcite into the polyamide layer. RSC Advances, 8(22): 12439–12448

[38] Vatanpour V, Safarpour M, Khataee A, Zarrabi H, Yekavalangi M E, Kavian M (2017). A thin film nanocomposite reverse osmosis membrane containing amine-functionalized carbon nanotubes. Separation and Purification Technology, 184: 135–143

[39] Virgili F, Pankratz T (2016). IDA desalination yearbook 2016–2017, Media Analytics Ltd., Oxford.

[40] Wang J, Dlamini D S, Mishra A K, Pendergast M T M, Wong M C Y, Mamba B B, Freger V, Verliefde A R D, Hoek E M V (2014). A critical review of transport through osmotic membranes. Journal of Membrane Science, 454: 516–537

[41] Werber J R, Osuji C O, Elimelech M (2016). Materials for next-generation desalination and water purification membranes. Nature Reviews. Materials, 1(5): 16018

[42] Wu H, Tang B, Wu P (2013). Optimizing polyamide thin film composite membrane covalently bonded with modified mesoporous silica nanoparticles. Journal of Membrane Science, 428: 341–348

[43] Yang Z, Yin J, Deng B (2016). Enhancing water flux of thin-film nanocomposite (TFN) membrane by incorporation of bimodal silica nanoparticles. AIMS Environmental Science, 3(2): 185–198

[44] Yin J, Kim E, Yang J, Deng B (2012). Fabrication of a novel thin-film nanocomposite (TFN) membrane containing MCM-41 silica nanoparticles (NPs) for water purification. Journal of Membrane Science, 423–424: 238–246

[45] Yin J, Zhu G, Deng B (2016). Graphene oxide (GO) enhanced polyamide (PA) thin-film nanocomposite (TFN) membrane for water purification. Desalination, 379: 93–101

[46] Zargar M, Hartanto Y, Jin B, Dai S (2016). Hollow mesoporous silica nanoparticles: A peculiar structure for thin film nanocomposite membranes. Journal of Membrane Science, 519: 1–10

[47] Zargar M, Hartanto Y, Jin B, Dai S (2017). Understanding Functionalized Silica Nanoparticles Incorporation in Thin Film Composite Membranes: Interactions and Desalination Performance. Journal of Membrane Science, 521: 53–64

[48] Zhu B, Hong Z, Milne N, Doherty C M, Zou L, Lin Y S, Hill A J, Gu X, Duke M (2014). Desalination of seawater ion complexes by MFI-type zeolite membranes: Temperature and long term stability. Journal of Membrane Science, 453: 126–135

[49] Zhu G, Bao M, Liu Z, Gao C (2016). Preparation of spherical mesoporous aminopropyl-functionalized MCM-41 and its application in polyamide thin film nanocomposite reverse osmosis membranes. Desalination and Water Treatment, 57(53): 25411–25420

Acknowledgments

This work is supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant Nos. 2017YFC0403903; 2017YFC0403901 and 2018YFC0408002), and the Special Fund for Basic Scientific Research Business of Central Public Research Institutes (No. K-JBYWF-2017-T12 and K-JBYWF-2018-HZ01), and the Young Taishan Scholars Program of Shandong Province.

版权

2020 Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature