Metal-organic frameworks decorated pomelo peel cellulose nanofibers membranes for high performance dye rejection

In this work, the cellulose nanofibers based membranes with both high dye solution flux and rejection rates were obtained. The cellulose nanofibers (PPCNFs) were prepared from pomelo peels by simple H 2 O 2 oxidation process, decorated with ZIF-8 crystals, and vacuum filtrated to form composite membranes (PPCNFs@ZIF x ). Ascribing to the highly porous structures of ZIF-8, as well as their uniform and stable deposition on the surfaces of PPCNFs, the resultant membranes were mechanically strong (tensile strength up to ~72.25 MPa), surface area rich (~ 199.46 m 2 /g), and with a maximal dye solution flux of ~32.3 L m −2 h −1 bar −1 and dye rejection rates larger than 85 % (89.95 % for methyl blue, 98.83 % for methyl violet, 95.91 % for malachite green, 95.36 % for rhodamine 6 G, and a high rejection rate of ~98.6 % toward methyl violet after 30-day cycles). Thus, this work paved a simple and green way to fabricate cellulose nanofibers based membranes with high performance in the remediation of dye contaminated water. • Cellulose nanofibers were prepared by simple H 2 O 2 oxidation from pomelo peel. • PPCNFs were decorated with ZIF-8 crystals via surface crystal growth processes. • The PPCNFs@ZIF x membrane exhibited both high flux and dye rejection performance.