Preparation of hydrophobic zeolitic imidazolate framework-71 (ZIF-71)/PVDF hollow fiber composite membrane for membrane distillation through dilute solution coating

Mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) combine the advantages of different materials and hopefully break through the limitation of high mass transfer resistance and low permeability in membrane distillation (MD) process. In this study, hydrophobic zeolitic imidazolate framework-71 (ZIF-71)/polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) hollow fiber composite membrane was prepared by the dilute solution coating method. ZIF-71 was incorporated into the PVDF dilute solution and a macroporous hydrophobic ZIF-71/PVDF coating layer was formed on the outer surface of PVDF hollow fiber support membrane through the nonsolvent induced phase separation (NIPS) process. PVDF hollow fiber support membrane was fabricated by the dry-jet wet spinning process. Membrane surface morphologies were observed through Field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM). The effects of zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs) content in PVDF coating layer on membrane surface hydrophobicity and desalination performance were investigated through Dynamic water contact angle (WCA) measurements and the vacuum membrane distillation (VMD) experiment, respectively. The VMD experiment was carried out at feed temperature 50 °C and permeation side vacuum 31.3 kPa using 3.5 wt% NaCl aqueous solution as the feed solution. Compared with the uncoated PVDF hollow fiber membrane, both the surface hydrophobicity and the water permeability of the ZIFs-incorporated PVDF hollow fiber composite membranes are improved. The surface WCA and permeation water flux of ZIFs-PVDF composite membrane increase from 94.5 to 136.5° and 13.5 to 27.1 kg.m−2.h−1 meanwhile the NaCl rejection could maintain at 99.99%. No obvious pore wetting phenomenon was observed for ZIFs-PVDF hollow fiber composite membrane during the continuous VMD experiment for 60 h. The dilute solution coating is a promising method to prepare high-performance hollow fiber composite membrane for the desalination in MD process.