Issue 66, 2020

Large-pore-size membranes tuned by chemically vapor deposited nanocoatings for rapid and controlled desalination

Abstract

Though membranes with pore size larger than 1 μm are much desired to increase the permeate flux of membrane distillation (MD), the vulnerability of large-pore-size membranes to pore wetting results in the penetration of saline water and consequent failure of MD operation. We report modification of large-pore-size membranes by chemically vapor deposited nanocoatings to achieve both high salt rejection and high permeate flux. The chemical vapor modification not only led to enhanced surface hydrophobicity and increased liquid entry pressure in membranes, but also significantly improved membrane wetting resistance at high temperature. Membranes with 1.0 and 2.0 μm pore size were successfully used for MD desalination with salt rejection higher than 99.99% achieved. Enlarging the pore size from 0.2 μm to 2.0 μm contributed to 48–73% enhancement in the permeate flux of the modified membranes. The modified large-pore-size membranes maintained the high permeate flux at elevated saline concentration and extended the operation time.

Graphical abstract: Large-pore-size membranes tuned by chemically vapor deposited nanocoatings for rapid and controlled desalination

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
06 Sept. 2020
Accepted
22 Okt. 2020
First published
06 Nov. 2020
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

RSC Adv., 2020,10, 40562-40568

Large-pore-size membranes tuned by chemically vapor deposited nanocoatings for rapid and controlled desalination

M. Zhu and Y. Mao, RSC Adv., 2020, 10, 40562 DOI: 10.1039/D0RA07629E

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