Leveraging tannic acid-ferric iron (TA/Fe3+) complexation in polyamide selective layer for synthesizing robust thin film composite reverse osmosis (TFC-RO) hollow fiber membranes for saline water treatment

Abstract

The high efficiency and adaptability of reverse osmosis (RO) are two main reasons this separation technology is accepted worldwide, depending on its various uses, such as water purification, desalination, and concentration. The potential of RO can be enhanced by utilizing the hollow fiber (HF) mode, benefiting from higher packing density, ease of cleaning, and cost competitiveness. However, its suitability for RO applications becomes questionable due to its weaker and fragile mechanical resilience. To solve the abovementioned issue and improve the mechanical strength and burst/crush pressure, we propose optimizing the selective layer of the TFC-RO membrane using tannic acid complexation with FeCl3. The polyethersulfone (PES) support layer was initially fabricated to host the polyamide (PA) layer. Subsequently, the introduction of tannic acid-ferric chloride complexation was implemented as a sandwich layer between the aqueous and organic phase reactions to host a coherent and selective PA layer to further enhance its performance by controlling the kinetics of interfacial polymerization (IP). The surface morphology, physicochemical properties, and underlying reactions were analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscope (AFM), Fourier infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and water contact angle measurements. The TFC-RO membrane M_TA0.2/Fe7.5 (7.5 mM FeCl3 & 0.2 wt% tannic acid) showed significant improvement in pure water permeance and salt rejection along with 7.23 MPa of burst pressure and 68.41 % strain, which proves superior elasticity and mechanical robustness because of PA TA/Fe3+ complexes formed during the IP. Moreover, the proposed facile tannic acid modification is effective and scalable. It significantly improves the mechanical efficacy of the HF TFC-RO membrane, solving a great problem for its commercial adaptability for RO applications and paving the way for smoother industrial translation for direct human factor applications.