Highly permeable and antifouling TFC FO membrane prepared with CD-EDA monomer for protein enrichment

Abstract The development of thin film composite (TFC) membrane with a high flux, a good fouling resistance and superior rejections remains a challenging task for membrane researchers, due to the inherent permeability-selectivity trade-off of the polymeric selective layer. In this work, highly permeable TFC membranes with excellent fouling resistance are developed by employing hydrophilic pore-containing monomers – ethylenediamine (EDA)-substituted cyclodextrins (α, β, γ-CD-EDA) in interfacial polymerization. Effects of CD-EDA type on the surface properties, pore size, separation performance and antifouling properties of TFC_CD-EDA membranes are investigated by considering the differences in CD cavity size and EDA substitution degree. Superior FO flux up to 26–28 LMH (0.5 M Na2SO4 draw solution) and exceptional antifouling properties with relatively low flux reduction (  91%) can be achieved by TFC_CD-EDA membranes, owing to the unique structure of CD-EDA with the intramolecular cavity and abundant hydrophilic hydroxyl groups. Furthermore, TFC_β-CD-EDA membrane is applied for the enrichment of high-concentration BSA solution by taking advantage of its high flux, low reverse draw solute leakage and excellent fouling resistance. The obtained high BSA enrichment efficiency and high-quality BSA suggest a great potential of TFC_CD-EDA membrane in this aspect.