Smart Piezoelectric Hybrid Ceramic Membrane With the Capacity of Pulsed Responsive Self‐Cleaning and Anti‐Fouling Functions

ABSTRACT Organic fouling remains a major challenge for ceramic membrane filtration because of the strong adsorption of organic foulants on membrane surfaces. Herein, a novel design strategy is proposed for smart piezoelectric hybrid ceramic membranes featuring self‐powered nano‐brushes. Specifically, a self‐powered nano‐brush smart piezoelectric hybrid ceramic membrane (ATPAA − ‐PBM) with the pulsed pressure responsiveness and self‐cleaning capability was prepared by grafting negatively charged sodium PAA polymer chain (PAA − ) on the surface of BaTiO 3 (BTO) piezoelectric ceramic membrane. Under the pulsed pressure, alternating piezoelectric charges induced reversible conformational oscillations of the self‐powered nano‐brushes, promoting the detachment of the foulant layer by the flowing water and thereby enabling in situ self‐cleaning. Meanwhile, the grafted PAA − nano‐brushes strongly associated with water molecules to establish a 462 nm‐thick hydration layer, while generating electrostatic repulsion toward humic acid (HA), jointly preventing foulant adhesion and enabling nearly complete rejection. The membrane exhibited outstanding retention, anti‐fouling ability, and remarkable flux retention ratio (FRR = 92.3%, 10 d) during a long‐term filtration process. Consequently, a novel excellent rejection and anti‐fouling mechanism of “self‐powered nano‐brush dynamic oscillation self‐cleaning & hydration barrier” was proposed. This study provides a new perspective for the fabrication of self‐cleaning smart piezoelectric hybrid ceramic membranes.