Ti3C2TX-Ethylenediamine nanofiltration membrane for high rejection of heavy metals

In a situation in which a huge amount of industrial wastewater is being generated worldwide, developing technology to effectively remove various types of heavy metal ions in wastewater is crucial. To achieve this goal, in this study, a material functionalized with ethylenediamine on Ti3C2TX is used as the active layer of a nanofiltration membrane to provide excellent rejection against six types of heavy metal ions (Mn2+, Zn2+, Cd2+, Cu2+, Ni2+, and Pb2+). When this Ti3C2TX-EDA membrane is applied to the nanofiltration system, a heavy metal rejection of greater than 93% is demonstrated, regardless of the heavy metal type with high pure water permeance of 21.1 LMH bar−1 at optimized operating conditions. In particular, for Mn2+, the Ti3C2TX-EDA membrane demonstrates a high heavy metal rejection of 99.8%. In addition, this membrane exhibit excellent continuous nanofiltration performance for various heavy metal solutions. Because this material can be deposited onto various support membranes, using it as an active layer provides a very efficient approach to achieving heavy metal removal from industrial wastewater.