Inkjet printed polyelectrolyte multilayer membrane using a polyketone support for organic solvent nanofiltration

This study investigates the inkjet printing technique as an efficient way to fabricate polyelectrolyte multilayer membranes (PEM) for organic solvent nanofiltrtaion (OSN). Polyethyleneimine (PEI) and poly(sodium 4-styrene sulfonate) (PSS) were used as polycation and polyanion, respectively. Single walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) was incorporated into membranes to enhance the membrane physical and chemical stability. The polyketone (PK) membrane served as substrate for OSN because of its organic solvent resistance property in nature. The effects of numbers of bilayer, polyelectrolyte concentration, and the cross-linking condition on the membrane OSN performances were evaluated. The best OSN performance was achieved with 10 bilayers of polyelectrolytes printing, noted as (PEI/PSS-CNT)10. The (PEI/PSS-CNT)10 membrane exhibited ethanol, methanol, IPA and acetone permeances of 2.52, 4.21, 1.21 and 4.75 L m−2 h−1 bar−1, respectively, along with good dye rejection rate (Rose Bengal (RB) rejection >98%). Moreover, the inkjet printed OSN membrane was found to be stable after soaking in different organic solvents for two weeks. The membrane weights and the performances exhibited negligible changes. The 12 h continuous filtration tests also confirmed the membrane stability property. Our work broadened the use of inkjet printing technology for membrane fabrication and validated the technology as a promising method for producing multilayer OSN membranes, which may open a new avenue for OSN membrane preparations.