Superhydrophobic polymer membrane coated by mineralized β-FeOOH nanorods for direct contact membrane distillation

Bang Li, Yanbin Yun, Manxiang Wang, Chunli Li, Woochul Yang, Jingwei Li, Guicheng Liu

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

48 Scopus citations

Abstract

Membrane wetting and fouling represent the foremost concerning issues confining membrane distillation in the treatment of industrial wastewater. This work presents a superhydrophobic poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) membrane with anti-fouling property, which was derived from the bioinspired adhesive, mineralization and fluorination process for the direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD). The synthesis of membrane was initiated by co-depositing polydopamine/polyethylenimine composite layer onto membrane substrates as “bio-glue” associated with β-FeOOH nanorods as hierarchical structure anchoring to form coordination complexes via the catechol group and Fe3+, then proceeded with the fluorination of 1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluorodecyltriethoxysilane to obtain the superhydrophobic PVDF membrane. Due to the unique micro-nano structure obtained, the resulting PVDF membrane, with a low sliding angle of 5.7° and a high water contact angle of 162°, conforms to the Cassie state. The membrane morphology, wetting behaviour, and anti-fouling performance were systematically characterized. The novel mineralized superhydrophobic membrane exhibited a steady flux and an outstanding salt rejection (99.9%) in treating high salinity and hardness containing-wastewater during 60-h-DCMD test, thus showing great potential for practical application in long-term DCMD.

Original languageEnglish
Article number114889
JournalDesalination
Volume500
DOIs
StatePublished - 15 Mar 2021

Keywords

  • Anti-fouling polymer membrane
  • Direct contact membrane distillation
  • Micro-nano structure
  • Superhydrophobic surface
  • β-FeOOH Nanorods

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