Enhancing the permeability of reverse osmosis membrane by embedding the star‐like rigid supports in the substrate

Abstract Thin film composite (TFC) reverse osmosis (RO) membranes with high permeability have been prepared by interfacial polymerization based on tailoring the polysulfone (PSf) substrate structure by in situ embedded poly(p‐phenylene terephthamide) (PPTA) star‐like rigid supports. The star‐like rigid supports were observed by the polarizing optical microscopy (POM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM). The surface properties of the substrates were investigated by FTIR, the water contact angle (WCA), FESEM and AFM. The WCA was decreased from 88.5° to 72.3° with the PPTA increasing from 0% to 8%, and the surface roughness increased from 24.2, 25.1, 33.5 and 58.6 nm, respectively. Furthermore, numerous interconnect micro‐structures were constructed in the substrate when the PPTA content was up to 8%. The pure water flux of 8% PPTA/92%PSf substrate was up to 377.0 L m −2 h −1 and the flux decline rate was lowest (64%) after compacted at 5.5 MPa for 30 min. Otherwise, increasing the PPTA contents in the substrate enhanced the roughness, encouraged nanosheet formation and improved the permeability of TFC RO membranes. The pure water flux of the TFC RO membranes increased from 36.32 to 58.42 L m −2 h −1 , where the NaCl rejection was about 99.5% at 5.5 MPa.