Abstract
In recent years, nanotechnology-based approaches have resulted in the development of new alternative sustainable technologies for water purification. Two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials are an emerging class of materials for nanofiltration membranes. In this work, we report the production, characterisation and testing of a promising nanofiltration membrane made from water-exfoliated boron nitride (BN) 2D nanosheets. The membranes have been tested for water purification and removal of typical water-soluble dyes such as methyl orange, methylene blue and Evans blue, with the water-exfoliated BN membranes achieving retention values close to 100%. In addition, we compared the performance of membranes made from water-exfoliated BN with those produced from BN using sonication-assisted liquid exfoliation in selected organic solvents such as 2-propanol and N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone. It was found that membranes from the water-exfoliated BN showed superior performance. We believe this research opens up a unique opportunity for the development of new high-performance environmentally friendly membranes for nanofiltration and new sustainable separation technologies.
Highlights
boron nitride (BN)-Water, it is noted that these studied here arepeaks derived the for same parent and material, but itand is clear that each peaks shift has to smaller sizes.characteristics, The presence of a minor, secondary for the membrane uniquepore porous depending on whichpeak solvent is used to sample, corresponding to pores of
This is due to exfoliates BN very efficiently, producing a high amount of monolayered BN nanosheets. This is due to the partial hydroxylation of the BN caused by sonication in water. This sonication-assisted hydrolysis of the solvent has been credited with helping the separation and dispersion of the BN nanosheets, which would effectively improve the level of the partial hydroxylation of the BN caused by sonication in water
Three selected solvents were effective in exfoliating BN and for producing corresponding BN-based membranes
Summary
Separation methods using membranes play a key role in industrial processes such as water treatment [1] and purification of active pharmaceutical and food ingredients [2]. NF presents intrinsic properties such as high permeation to monovalent ions, low permeation to divalent ions and higher flux than reverse osmosis membranes Due to these features, NF has been adopted for several important applications, such as water treatment and purification technologies used in biopharmaceutical and food industries [8]. Two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials have gained interest as building blocks for NF membranes These materials offer the option of high chemical inertness, as found in ceramics, combined with the ease of processability of polymers. There are several ways to produce exfoliated 2D BN materials, with most based on a top-down approach, including micromechanical cleavage, chemical exfoliation, mechanical exfoliation (most commonly ball milling) and sonication-assisted liquid-phase exfoliation [50]. We emphasize the use of water for exfoliation as an approach to achieve the most effective membranes
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