Sulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone) thin-film composite reverse osmosis membrane containing SiO2 nano-particles

Abstract

Novel thin-film nano-composite membranes containing SiO2 nano-particles are successfully fabricated via interfacial polymerization with trimesoyl chloride (TMC), sulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone) copolymers and silica (SiO2) nano-particles on a polysulfone (PS) support membrane. Sulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone) copolymers containing carboxylic and amino groups (cPES) are successfully prepared via direct polymerization as novel thin-film composite (TFC) reverse osmosis (RO) membrane material. Mesoporous SiO2 nano-particles are also successfully synthesized. The synthesized cPES copolymers, SiO2 nano-particles and fabricated cPES membranes are characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The incorporation of SiO2 nanoparticles were confirmed by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). Moreover, the effects of different fabrication conditions on performance are investigated. The cPES membrane with 1% (w/w) SiO2, which is cured at 70 degrees C, exhibited the high salt rejection value (96.8%) with respect to NaCl and good water flux value (32 L/m(2)h).