Electrosprayed polyamide nanofiltration membrane with intercalated structure for controllable structure manipulation and enhanced separation performance

Intercalated structure and electrosprayed interfacial polymerization methods have recently been proposed for permeability enhancement of polyamide membranes. In this study, a Span 80 intercalated polyamide nanofiltration membrane was fabricated through electrospray for simultaneously improving the surface structure, interfacial stability and separation performance. The membrane obtained through electrosprayed interfacial polymerization (EIP) showed a water flux of 83.0 L m-2 h-1 at an applied pressure of 5.0 bar. The intercalated Span 80 severed as multifunctional layer for simultaneously lowering surface roughness (RSa value of polyamide, 7 nm), enhancing interfacial stability (better anti-backwashing ability) and separation performance (enhanced water flux and BPA rejection). The current study provides new opportunities for fabricating polyamide nanofiltration membrane with high performance by combination of EIP and reactive interlayer strategy.