Capsaicin mimic-based antifouling and antibacterial polyester nanofiltration membranes with tunable crosslinked structures

Abstract

Polyester thin-film composite (PE TFC) nanofiltration membranes based on the interfacial polymerization (IP) of polyols/polyphenols and acyl chloride continue to attract considerable attention for textile wastewater treatment due to their excellent antifouling properties. Herein, N-(5-methyl acrylamide-2,3,4 hydroxy benzyl) acrylamide (AMTHBA), a polyphenol-inspired capsaicin derivative, was first utilized as an aqueous monomer for the preparation of antifouling and antibacterial PE TFC membranes via the IP process. The moderate reactivity of AMTHBA and its unique solubility enabled a rational control of the crosslinking density of PE membranes, allowing the formation of structures from loose to dense through an adjustment of the AMTHBA concentration. The densely crosslinked AM-TMC PE membrane exhibited favorable desalination performance, with a water permeance of 21.8 L m−2 h−1 bar−1 and a Na2SO4 rejection of 83.8 %. The loosely crosslinked AM-TMC PE membrane exhibited excellent dye/salt separation performance, with high dye rejections (e.g., 98.5 % for MB) and low salt rejections (e.g., 4.0 % for NaCl), as well as high water permeance (30.4 L m−2 h−1 bar−1). In contrast, the capsaicin-containing PE TFC membranes also demonstrated markedly enhanced resistance to bacterial growth and organic fouling. These findings indicate that AM-TMC PE membranes present novel avenues for the advancement of task-specific separation membranes.