Highly permeable composite nanofiltration membrane via γ-cyclodextrin modulation for multiple applications

The treatment of pharmaceutical wastewater has become a worldwide problem. Highly efficient treatment for wastewater is extremely critical for ecological environment. Herein, a thin-film nanofibrous composite (TFNC) nanofiltration (NF) membrane modulated by γ-cyclodextrin (γ-CD) was prepared via interfacial polymerization. The γ-CD and piperazine (PIP) were adopted and acting as the mixed reaction monomers in aqueous phase for the fabrication of the separation layer. Not only PIP, γ-CD units would also react with organic phase trimesoyl chloride (TMC) at the interface and participate into the polymerization network. Compared with pure polyamide TFNC membranes, the γ-CD modulated TFNC membranes demonstrated thinner skin thickness. Owing to the 3D hollow structure of γ-CD, the self-contained through cavities would provide additional direct nanochannels to facilitate the water transport. Under 0.5 MPa, the optimized PIP0.5γCD0.5 and PIP0.5γCD1.5 TFNC membranes showed much higher permeate flux of 23.27 and 26.34 L m-2h−1 bar−1, respectively, than that of pure polyamide membranes (9.13 and 9.85 L m-2h−1 bar−1) and the Na2SO4 rejection remained high (>98.7%). Moreover, both TFNC membranes exhibited extremely high rejection (>99%) for several pharmaceuticals (doxycycline hydrochloride, tetracycline, and amoxicillin), and the PIP0.5γCD0.5 TFNC membrane exhibited a good separation factor (31.8) for NaCl/tetracycline solution. In addition, both optimized TFNC membranes showed good pressure resistance and long-term operating stability. This research revealed a facile modulation strategy for the fabrication of high-performance NF membrane and indicated the great promise for desalination, pharmaceuticals wastewater treatment and antibiotics concentration.