Abstract
Membrane pervaporation provides an effective approach for production of desalinated water and treatments of salted water. The water permeation fluxes through the membranes could be the key issue for practical systems. In this work, a surface engineering through introduction of lotus-leaf biomimicked structures and chemical deprotonation has been performed on poly(vinyl alcohol) membrane surfaces. The increased surface area and hydrophilicity of the membranes significantly enhance water dissolution into the membrane, so as to bring a 2.8 times of water permeation flux to the membrane. In addition to a high thickness-normalized water flux of 386 kg-μm h−1 m−2, the surface-engineered PVA membrane also exhibit ability for desalination on high salinity water (15 wt% NaCl(aq)). The surface-engineering method could be integrated with other approaches for membrane modification to exhibit synergistic effect on enhancements of membrane separation performance.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
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 callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
