Conductive and stable polyphenylene/CNT composite membrane for electrically enhanced membrane fouling mitigation

Highlights

● A conductive and stable polyphenylene/CNT membrane was fabricated.

● The conductivity of the membrane was 3.4 times higher than that of the CNT membrane.

● Structural stability of the membrane is superior to that of the CNT membrane.

● Electro-assistance can effectively enhance membrane fouling mitigation.

Abstract

Nanocarbon-based conductive membranes, especially carbon nanotube (CNT)-based membranes, have tremendous potential for wastewater treatment and water purification because of their excellent water permeability and selectivity, as well as their electrochemically enhanced performance (e.g., improved antifouling ability). However, it remains challenging to prepare CNT membranes with high structural stability and high electrical conductivity. In this study, a highly electroconductive and structurally stable polyphenylene/CNT (PP/CNT) composite membrane was prepared by electropolymerizing biphenyl on a CNT hollow fiber membrane. The PP/CNT membrane showed 3.4 and 5.0 times higher electrical conductivity than pure CNT and poly(vinyl alcohol)/CNT (PVA/CNT) membranes, respectively. The structural stability of the membrane was superior to that of the pure CNT membrane and comparable to that of the PVA/CNT membrane. The membrane fouling was significantly alleviated under an electrical assistance of −2.0 V, with a flux loss of only 11.7% after 5 h filtration of humic acid, which is significantly lower than those of PP/CNT membranes without electro-assistance (56.8%) and commercial polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membranes (64.1%). Additionally, the rejection of negatively charged pollutants (humic acid and sodium alginate) was improved by the enhanced electrostatic repulsion. After four consecutive filtration-cleaning cycle tests, the flux recovery rate after backwashing reached 97.2%, which was much higher than those of electricity-free PP/CNT membranes (67.0%) and commercial PVDF membranes (61.1%). This study offers insights into the preparation of stable conductive membranes for membrane fouling control in potential water treatment applications.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

Polyphenylene / CNTs / Membrane / Electro-assistance / Membrane fouling mitigation

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2020YFA0211001), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 22106017), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (DUT2022TA04), and the Programme of Introducing Talents of Discipline to Universities (China) (No. B13012).

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Electronic Supplementary Material

Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-024-1763-z and is accessible for authorized users.

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