In situ growth of covalent triazine frameworks membrane on alumina substrate for dye/salt separation

In this study, a facile strategy for in situ growth of covalent triazine frameworks (CTFs) membrane on α-Al2O3 substrate was presented. An intact CTFs based composite membrane was obtained in a solvothermal growth process. The structure and property of the CTFs composite membranes were investigated. The results indicated that CTFs could grow in the pores of the α-Al2O3 substrate to modify the transport channel. Due to the sieving effect of the CTFs aperture, the prepared CTFs composite membrane exhibited superior rejection for different types of dyes (>97%) with extremely low rejection for salts (<20%). Moreover, the CTFs composite membrane had a high permeability (448 L m−2h−1 MPa−1) and good stability for dye desalination. This approach demonstrated the great potential of CTFs membranes for dye/salt separation.