Lignin alkali regulated interfacial polymerization towards ultra-selective and highly permeable nanofiltration membrane

Wentian Zhang, Shanshan Zhao (), Haiyun Li, Cunxian Lai, Shangwei Zhang, Wu Wen, Chuyang Y. Tang () and Fangang Meng ()
Additional contact information
Wentian Zhang: Sun Yat-sen University
Shanshan Zhao: Sun Yat-sen University
Haiyun Li: Sun Yat-sen University
Cunxian Lai: Sun Yat-sen University
Shangwei Zhang: Beijing Normal University
Wu Wen: Beijing Normal University
Chuyang Y. Tang: The University of Hong Kong
Fangang Meng: Sun Yat-sen University

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: Abstract Thin-film composite polyamide (TFC PA) membranes hold promise for energy-efficient liquid separation, but achieving high permeance and precise separation membrane via a facile approach that is compatible with present manufacturing line remains a great challenge. Herein, we demonstrate the use of lignin alkali (LA) derived from waste of paper pulp as an aqueous phase additive to regulate interfacial polymerization (IP) process for achieving high performance nanofiltration (NF) membrane. Various characterizations and molecular dynamics simulations revealed that LA can promote the diffusion and partition of aqueous phase monomer piperazine (PIP) molecules into organic phase and their uniform dispersion on substrate, accelerating the IP reaction and promoting greater interfacial instabilities, thus endowing formation of TFC NF membrane with an ultrathin, highly cross-linked, and crumpled PA layer. The optimal membrane exhibited a remarkable water permeance of 26.0 L m-2 h-1 bar-1 and Cl-/SO42- selectivity of 191.0, which is superior to the state-of-the-art PA NF membranes. This study provides a cost-effective scalable strategy for fabricating ultra-selective and highly permeable NF membrane for precise ion-ion separation and small organic compounds removal.

Date: 2025
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-55595-y Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-024-55595-y

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-55595-y

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().