Abstract
The Forward Osmosis (FO) membrane was the core of FO technology. Obtaining a high water flux while maintaining a low reverse solute flux has historically been considered the gold standard for a perfect FO membrane. In a thin-film composite FO membrane, the performance of the membrane was determined not only by the material and structure of the porous support layer but also by the structural and chemical properties of the active selective layer. Researchers have selected numerous sorts of materials for the FO membranes in recent years and have produced exceptional achievements. Herein, the performance of the modified FO membrane constructed by introducing new two-dimensional nanomaterial MXene nano-sheets to the interfacial polymerization process was investigated, and the performance of these modified membranes was investigated using a variety of characterization and testing methods. The results revealed that the MXene nano-sheets played an important role in improving the performance of the FO membrane. Because of the hydrophilic features of the MXene nano-sheets, the membrane structure may be tuned within a specific concentration range, and the performance of the modified FO membrane has been significantly enhanced accordingly. The optimal membrane water flux was boosted by around 80%, while its reverse solute flux was kept to a minimum of the resultant membranes. It showed that the addition of MXene nanosheets to the active selective layer could improve the performance of the FO membrane, and this method showed promising application prospects.
Highlights
To cope with the shortage of freshwater resources, people began to develop different types of water treatment technologies to solve such kinds of problems [1]
Because of the significant energy consumption and severe fouling issues involved in the process of its utilization, it has always been regarded as a bottleneck, prompting people to search for breakthroughs on a regular basis
Because of the presence of concentration polarization [8], which was one of the primary factors limiting the improvement of forward osmosis (FO) technology, the actual result of FO membrane water flux was significantly lower than the theoretical value, which severely restricted the FO technology’s widespread usage and application
Summary
To cope with the shortage of freshwater resources, people began to develop different types of water treatment technologies to solve such kinds of problems [1]. Because of the presence of concentration polarization [8], which was one of the primary factors limiting the improvement of FO technology, the actual result of FO membrane water flux was significantly lower than the theoretical value, which severely restricted the FO technology’s widespread usage and application In this context, researchers began to explore new raw materials on a continual basis in the hope of compensating for the shortcomings of FO membranes by exploiting the properties of certain materials. A new two-dimensional hydrophilic nanomaterial, MXene nano-sheets, were implanted into the aqueous phase in the interfacial polymerization process to prepare a new nano-modified thin-film composite FO membrane with different addition amounts of MXene nano-sheet, and a series of characterizations and analyses were carried out on the aspects of surface structure, physical properties, chemical composition, and permeability. This study showed a good and promising protocol for MXene-modified FO membrane fabrication and synthesis
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
