Thin Film Nanocomposite Membranes Research Articles

Effect of poly(2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate) brush-grafted graphene oxide on polyamide layer formation and nanofiltration performance

Thin film composite (TFC) membrane performance is often restricted by permeability and selectivity trade-off effect, even with the modification of nanoparticles. Graphene oxide-poly(2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate) (GO-PDMAEMA) with brush structure has abundant hydrophilic oxygen-containing functional groups and amine groups. It was synthesized via the atom transfer radical polymerization method and incorporated into TFC polyamide layer using interfacial polymerization. The GO-PDMAEMA-modified thin film nanocomposite membranes (TFNG-P) with Turing structure and higher surface hydrophilicity enhanced water permeability by 40.7–55%, with relatively low nanoparticle loading (0.005–0.02 wt%). Besides, TFNG-P2 (0.01 wt% GO-PDMAEMA) has the highest Na2SO4 rejection (97.8%), 4.4% higher than TFC. The PDMAEMA brushes on GO with additional amine groups promoted the amide linkage and increased the PA layer cross-linking by 16.2%. The higher cross-linking did not negatively affect the membrane flux, as the better hydrophilicity offset this effect. The utilization of the modified membranes in the treatment of palm oil mill effluent demonstrated enhanced resistance to fouling with TFNG-P2, which exhibited the highest flux recovery rate, reaching 89.4%. Thus, this study showed GO modification by grafting PDMAEMA brushes had enhanced the membrane properties, resulting in TFNG-P with higher permeability, promising separation and antifouling performance.

Ultrasmall Functionalized UiO-66 Nanoparticle/Polymer Pebax 1657 Thin-Film Nanocomposite Membranes for Optimal CO2 Separation.

Ultrasmall 4 to 6 nm nanoparticles of the metal-organic framework (MOF) UiO-66 (University of Oslo-66) were successfully prepared and embedded into the polymer Pebax 1657 to fabricate thin-film nanocomposite (TFN) membranes for CO2/N2 and CO2/CH4 separations. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that ligand functionalization with amino (-NH2) and nitro (-NO2) groups significantly enhances the gas separation performance of the membranes. For CO2/N2 separation, 7.5 wt % UiO-66-NH2 nanoparticles provided a 53% improvement in CO2 permeance over the pristine membrane (from 181 to 277 GPU). Regarding the CO2/N2 selectivity, the membranes prepared with 5 wt % UiO-66-NO2 nanoparticles provided an increment of 17% over the membrane without the MOF (from 43.5 to 51.0). However, the CO2 permeance of this membrane dropped to 155 GPU. The addition of 10 wt % ZIF-94 particles with an average particle size of ∼45 nm into the 5 wt % UiO-66-NO2 membrane allowed to increase the CO2 permeance to 192 GPU while maintaining the CO2/N2 selectivity at ca. 51 due to the synergistic interaction between the MOFs and the polymer matrix provided by the hydrophilic nature of ZIF-94. In the case of CO2/CH4 separation, the 7.5 wt % UiO-66-NH2 membrane exhibited the best performance with an increase of the CO2 permeance from 201 to 245 GPU.

Internally functionalized MnO2 nanotubes in modification of thin-film nanocomposite membranes for water and wastewater treatment

Internally functionalized MnO2 nanotubes in modification of thin-film nanocomposite membranes for water and wastewater treatment

In-situ interfacial synthesis of metal-organic framework/polyamide thin-film nanocomposite membranes with elevated nanofiltration performances

Incorporation of nanomaterials in the thin film polyamide (PA) is instrumental to overcome the intrinsic trade-off between permeability and selectivity of polymeric nanofiltration (NF) membranes. However, the universal method of preparing thin film nanocomposite (TFN) NF membranes by directly combining the synthesized nanofillers into PA faces a stubborn issue of poor compatibility for filler-PA, which is adverse to membrane separation. Herein, an in-situ interfacial synthetic strategy was induced in interfacial polymerization (IP) process to prepare TFN membranes with metal-organic framework (MOF) in the PA selective layer. The metal ions and ligands constituting the MOF were dissolved individually in the aqueous and organic phases. MOF particles and the PA layer were simultaneously formed at the liquid-liquid interface. The increment of cross-linking degree confirmed the good compatibility between MOF and PA. Compared with the thin film composite (TFC) membrane, the acquired TFN-1 membrane exhibited 100 % enhancement of pure water permeance (from 10.0 to 20.6 L m−2 h−1 bar−1) due to the markedly reduced thin film thickness. Meanwhile, the rejection of rhodamine B (99.9 %) and Na2SO4 (96.5 %) for TFN membrane were higher than those of TFC membrane (97.2 % and 95.6 %), respectively. The TFN membrane exhibited long-term stability without deterioration. The in-situ interfacial synthesis of the MOF/PA layer provides a new avenue in TFN membrane fabrications.

Tailoring morphology for improved dispersibility of hydrophilic silica nanoparticles to fabricate thin-film nanocomposite membranes

Improving the dispersibility of nanomaterials is a promising approach to enhance the performance of thin-film nanocomposite (TFN) membranes. In this study, hydrophilic nonporous, mesoporous, and dendritic mesoporous silica nanoparticles (NSNs, MSNs, and DMSNs) with a uniform particle size were utilized as aqueous phase additives to prepare TFN membranes through in-situ polymerization. The electrostatic adsorption of nanoparticles increased the concentration of amine monomers on the surface of the polysulfone (PSF) substrate. In collaboration with the steric hindrance effect, nanoparticles restricted the diffusion of piperazine (PIP) into the organic phase to polymerize with the acyl chloride monomers. Compared to TFC-0, the TFN membranes exhibited a rougher surface with increased negative charge and had more channels that facilitated the transportation of water molecules. Among the nanoparticles, DMSNs exhibited excellent dispersibility, ensuring their uniform distribution within the polyamide (PA) matrix. Furthermore, DMSNs possessed an open central-radial pore structure, offering more efficient channels for water molecules to cross the membrane. Therefore, a highly crosslinked, defect-free, and hydrophilic PA layer of TFN-DMSNs was achieved. In the performance characterization, TFN-DMSNs demonstrated a high water/salt permselectivity (A/B) of up to 32.25 bar−1, and exhibited good resistance to acidic/alkaline environments as well as foulants during the operation. This study proposes a novel approach to prepare advanced TFN membranes by optimizing the morphological structure of nanoparticles.

Metal/covalent–organic framework based thin film nanocomposite membranes for advanced separations

Metal/covalent organic frameworks (MOFs/COFs), with orderly aligned pores and adjustable pore characteristics, offer advantages over traditional fillers in constructing thin film nanocomposite (TFN) membranes for task-specific separations.

Graphene oxide incorporated thin film nanocomposite nanofiltration membrane to enhance permeation and antifouling properties

Aiming at the problems of low permeation flux and low salt rejection of polyamide (PA) nanofiltration (NF) membrane, this study improved the surface properties and structure of PA layer by adding hydrophilic GO nanosheets. Polyethylimide (PEI), GO and trimethylchloride (TMC) were prepared on the surface of polyether sulfone (PES) substrate by interfacial polymerization. After adding GO, the hydrophilicity and zeta potential of NF membrane were improved. The NF test showed that when the amount of GO was 0.1%, the permeation flux of the membrane was increased from 7.06 to 12.285 L·m−2·h−1 (improve 73.94%), and the rejection of MgSO4 was increased from 90.23% to 95.9%. In the test of repulsion of univalent ion and bivalent ion, the repulsion value of bivalent ion is above 95%, and the repulsion degree of univalent ion is moderate. Compared with the original TFC membrane, the composite membrane also showed higher anti-fouling. This study provides a shortcut for improving the hydrophilicity and anti-fouling properties of NF membranes by using GO nanosheets.

Quantum dot- β-Cyclodextrin nanofiller decorated thin film nanocomposite membrane for removal of cationic and anionic dyes from aqueous solution

Graphene oxide quantum dots (GOQDs) are finding tremendous attention as nanofillers in separation processes owing to their excellent chemical and mechanical robustness. GOQDs-functionalized thin film nanocomposite (TFN) membranes were fabricated via low pressure mediated interfacial polymerization (IP) over a polysulfone support, where β-Cyclodextrin (β-CD) was taken as an aqueous monomer with a fractional amount of GOQDs and tetraethylenepentamine (TEPA) as the organic monomer. The resultant TFN membranes showed improved hydrophilicity over its pristine polymeric analogue. The best performing membrane was obtained for MPG2, which had a mass loading of 3 % of β-CD, 0.3 % of TEPA and 0.4 % of GOQD during the interfacial polymerization. The membrane showed pure water flux that was two fold higher than that of the pristine polymeric membrane, with a dye rejection of 99.6 % for congo red and 96 % for methyl blue. This excellent rejection for the anionic dye can be attributed to the Donnan exclusion imparted by the negative charges on the membrane surface. The salt rejection properties of the membranes were also analyzed and the MPG2 membrane exhibited a high rejection rate of 96 % and 99.1 % for the salt containing Cl− and NO3− ions, respectively.

Metal-organic frameworks' latent potential as High-Efficiency osmotic power generators in Thin-Film nanocomposite membranes

This study investigates enhanced osmotic power generation by incorporating metal–organic framework (MOF) nanorods into the thin-film nanocomposite (TFN) membranes for pressure retarded osmosis (PRO) applications. The spotlight is on an innovative membrane, NH2-Ce-BTC-500, which is fabricated utilizing amine-functionalized MOFs (NH2-Ce-BTC), showcasing the synergistic effects of structure and chemistry in optimizing membrane properties for power generation. The NH2-Ce-BTC-500 membrane exhibits a remarkable increase in hydrophilicity, setting a new power density benchmark of 6.9 W/m2. NH2-Ce-BTC-500 outperforms Ce-BTC-500 and pristine TFC membranes by 15 % and 109.1 %, demonstrating the superior performance of amine-functionalized membranes. Furthermore, through physical and chemical characterizations, it is revealed that the MOF-based membranes exhibit increased surface roughness and porosity, indicating the formation of additional water pathways. This enhancement leads to a substantial increase in the water flux, reaching 31.0 LMH in PRO mode, which is a 106 % improvement compared to pristine TFC membranes. This remarkable increase in water flux directly translates to enhanced power generation capacity. In essence, the NH2-Ce-BTC-500 membrane exhibits promising advancements in PRO performance, offering the potential to lower downstream energy consumption and increase power generation efficiency. This research opens up a new paradigm for developing next-generation osmotic power generation. This renewable and energy-efficient solution can address the global energy crisis by leveraging the potential of MOF nanorods in TFN membranes.

Thin Film Nanocomposite Membranes Based on Zeolitic Imidazolate Framework-8/Halloysite Nanotube Composites.

Thin film nanocomposite (TFN) membranes have proven their unrivaled value, as they can combine the advantages of different materials and furnish membranes with improved selectivity and permeability. The development of TFN membranes has been severely limited by the poor dispersion of the nanoparticles and the weak adhesion between the nanoparticles and the polymer matrix. In this study, to address the poor dispersion of nanoparticles in TFN membranes, we proposed a new combination of m-ZIF-8 and m-HNTs, wherein the ZIF-8 and HNTs were modified with poly (sodium p-styrenesulfonate) to enhance their dispersion in water. Furthermore, the hydropathic properties of the membranes can be well controlled by adjusting the content of m-ZIF-8 and m-HNTs. A series of modified m-ZIF-8/m-HNT/PAN membranes were prepared to modulate the dye/salt separation performance of TFN membranes. The experimental results showed that our m-ZIF-8/m-HNT/PAN membranes can elevate the water flux significantly up to 42.6 L m-2 h-1 MPa-1, together with a high rejection of Reactive Red 49 (more than 80%). In particular, the optimized NFM-7.5 membrane that contained 7.5 mg of HNTs and 2.5 mg of ZIF-8 showed a 97.1% rejection of Reactive Red 49 and 21.3% retention of NaCl.

Mixed matrix membranes incorporating two-dimensional ZIF-8 nanosheets for enhanced CO2/N2 separation

In this report, a few unit-cell thick ZIF-8 nanosheets with (002) basal planes exposed with 4-membered windows were synthesized by using sodium dodecyl sulfate, an anionic surfactant as a structure directing agent, which were used as fillers to fabricate mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) for CO2/N2 separation. The 2D ZIF-8 fillers contributed to not only decreasing transport resistance due to highly porous nature but also strengthening CO2/N2 diffusive separation of the MMMs due to keen molecular sieving through 4-membered windows, smaller than conventional 6-membered windows of ZIF-8. Aligned filler dispersion in out-of-plane direction was maintained up to 10 wt% filler loading and the MMM with 10 wt% filler loading showed optimal performance of CO2 permeability of ∼350 Barrer and CO2/N2 selectivity of ∼94, outperforming most of the reported 2D nanosheet-based MMMs in addition to exceeding the 2019 upper bound. To check commercial viability, thin film nanocomposite (TFN) membranes composed of a skin layer of ∼780 nm including 10 wt% filler loading were prepared. The TFN membranes exhibited CO2 permeance of ∼710 GPU and CO2/N2 selectivity of ∼77, which surpasses most of state-of-the-art polymeric thin film composite (TFC) and TFN membranes especially in terms of selectivity.

The fabrication of thin-film nanocomposite membrane for organic solvent forward osmosis via host-guest chemistry of α-cyclodextrin

Organic solvent forward osmosis (OSFO) is a newly developing technology for recovering the organic solvent and concentrating substances. The commercial polyethylene (PE) battery separator is the ideal support for OSFO owing to the low structural parameter, resistance for organic solvents, commercially available and simple preparation process. A novel thin-film nanocomposite (TFN) membrane for OSFO was fabricated on the dopamine (DA)-modified PE support by adding α-cyclodextrin (α-CD) in the polyamide (PA) layer. The inclusion complexes (MPD@α-CD) formed by host-guest chemistry enhanced the stability of the membrane. Because of the Janus path and molecular sieving effect of α-CD, the TFN membrane exhibited superior permeability and selectivity among the recent reports. Moreover, the TFN membrane showed high rejection of Rhodamine B and Oxytetracycline, so it had great potential for solutes concentration. Herein, this work broadens the application of eco-friendly α-CD in membrane field and improves the PE composite membrane for OSFO process.

Enhancing the perm-selectivity of thin-film nanocomposite membranes intercalated with cyclodextrin-chelated Metal-Organic Framework via modulated interfacial polymerization

Nanofiltration (NF), an exceedingly promising technology, has been extensively implemented within the domain of desalination. The pursuit of optimizing water permeance, while upholding outstanding rejection rates to ameliorate the vexing permeability-selectivity trade-off effect, has raised tremendous concerns. Herein, a novel approach has been proposed, involving the construction of a cyclodextrin-chelated Metal-Organic Framework (MOF) interlayer through vacuum-assisted filtration, aimed at orchestrating the interfacial polymerization (IP) process and sculpting the membrane morphologies of polyamide membranes. The results demonstrated that cyclodextrin-chelated MOF interlayer produced a “gutter” effect for faster water transport and enhanced the interaction of the substrate and PA layer. Simultaneously, the interlayer helped to alleviate the diffusion rate of piperazine (PIP) via the interactions (e.g., hydrogen bonds, electrostatic attraction and steric hindrance) between interlayer and PIP, leading to a lower cross-linking degree and a defect-free thinner active layer. Meanwhile, cyclodextrin with intrinsic nano-cavity created more free volume for water transport inside the polymer. Furthermore, the crumpled interlayer established a hydrophilic undulated interface, followed by the generation of micro-wrinkled polyamide layer with larger filtration areas. The optimal membrane exhibited a high permeability of 39.59 L/m2 h bar, nearly 6.5 times than that of the original membrane, while maintaining a remarkable Na2SO4 rejection of 95.71 %. The strategic deployment of cyclodextrin-chelated MOF interlayers in membrane modification held the potential to efficaciously mitigate the trade-off effect, thereby presenting a promising avenue for the realization of highly-efficient desalination processes.

Greener synthesis of thin-film nanocomposite membranes with varied nanofillers for enhanced organic micropollutant removal

Nowadays, the green process in membrane science is essential for industrial applications. The nanofiltration (NF) membrane developed by a green approach with effective separation of micropollutant from aqueous media makes it possible. Here, we designed a series of thin-film nanocomposite membranes prepared with structurally and morphologically different nanofillers, such as graphene oxide (GO)–NH2, arginine (Arg)-MMT and cloisite (C) MMT-NH2. The vapour-phase interfacial polymerisation (VP-IP) process is used to prepare highly selective and permeable thin-film nanocomposite (TFN) membranes. The polymerization reaction was done on the surface of the polysulfone (PSf) support membrane between an aqueous phase solution of 3,5-diaminobenzoic acid (DABA) and vapours of trimesoyl chloride (TMC). The nanomaterials' and prepared membranes' chemical and physical properties were determined using different characterization techniques. The TFN membranes (TFN-1, TFN-2 and TFN-3) prepared using three different nanomaterials (GO-NH2, Arg-MMT, CMMT-NH2) were compared for their separation against pharmaceutical compounds sulfamethoxazole (SMZ), triclosan (TRI), diclofenac (DIC) and cephalexin (CEP). The membranes demonstrated good hydrophilicity and antibacterial activity, resulting in a reasonable permeate flux rate. The fabricated membranes showed excellent selectivity for pharmaceutical compounds. Still, the TFN-3 membrane embedded with CMMT-NH2 nanomaterial recorded the highest rejection rate (> 99%) compared to the TFN-2 (Arg-MMT) and TFN-1 (GO-NH2) membranes. In contrast, the permeate flux rates for the individual TFN membranes showed slight variation. The developed TFN membranes via green and sustainable vapour-phase interfacial polymerization process demonstrated the possibility of being utilized for removing organic micropollutants from water to prevent the terrible devastation of our environment and aquatic systems.

Mussel-inspired modification of 2D MoS2 to construct a hybrid nanocomposite membrane with enhanced pervaporation dehydration of isopropanol

In this work, a thin-film nanocomposite (TFN) membrane was constructed using a hybrid polydopamine (PD)-MoS2 (MoS2@PD) filler for pervaporation dehydration of isopropanol. The exfoliated MoS2 was first modified through bio-inspired coating of PD. The resulting MoS2@PD with different weight ratio with respect to PEI was then deposited into the hydrolyzed polyacrylonitrile support through pressure-assisted filtration, followed by crosslinking with trimesoyl chloride. Characterization experiments were performed with the membranes using Attenuated Total Reflectance Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy, Energy-Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy, Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy, Atomic Force Microscopy, and water contact angle analyses. The PD serves as a bridging agent between MoS2 and the crosslinked PEI, enhancing the membrane’s physicochemical properties, including surface morphology and hydrophilicity. For membrane performance on pervaporation dehydration of 70/30 wt% isopropanol/water mixture at 25 °C, the addition of MoS2@PD led to a simultaneous increase in permeation total flux and water content in the permeate. Notably, MoS2@PD0.3-TFN membrane demonstrated a permeation flux of 2870.10 g∙m−2∙h−1 and 0.86/99.14 wt% isopropanol/water permeate mixture. The membrane also maintained stable performance under varying feed concentration, feed temperature, and long-term operations. This study contributes valuable insights into the development of MoS2-based membrane with enhanced pervaporation separation performance.

Environmental sustainability of FO membrane separation applications – Bibliometric analysis and state-of-the-art review

Water treatment, product concentration, and resource recovery are few examples of the many areas where the economic promise of osmotic driven membrane separation remains unrealized. The most futuristic and sustainable, osmotic driven membrane separation process which works with-out any external hydraulic energy is forward osmosis (FO) process. This study comprises two parts first is of bibliometric analysis which helps to identify and analyze the current research trend in osmotic membrane filtration technique, and are represented along with nodal network visualization. Desalination and wastewater treatment seem to be the major application of FO technology followed by fertigation, algal dewatering, pharmaceutical and textile industries. The second part is the literature review on major applications of forward osmotic technique shortlisted from bibliometric analysis, which includes recent developments in FO research. An application based critical analysis on thin film nano composite membrane, draw solutes, nano particles for membrane modifications and hybrid FO units were performed. Analysing literatures from 2005 to 2022, this study pinpoints potential applications, future prospects and existing challenges in Forward Osmosis (FO), for the successful implementation of scale-up.

PolyMOF nanoparticles constructed from intrinsically microporous polymer ligand towards scalable composite membranes for CO2 separation

Integrating different modification strategies into a single step to achieve the desired properties of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) has been very synthetically challenging, especially in developing advanced MOF/polymer mixed matrix membranes (MMMs). Herein, we report a polymer–MOF (polyMOF) system constructed from a carboxylated polymer with intrinsic microporosity (cPIM-1) ligand. This intrinsically microporous ligand could coordinate with metals, leading to ~100 nm-sized polyMOF nanoparticles. Compared to control MOFs, these polyMOFs exhibit enhanced ultramicroporosity for efficient molecular sieving, and they have better dispersion properties in casting solutions to prepare MMMs. Ultimately, integrating coordination chemistries through the cPIM-1 and polymer-based functionality into porous materials results in polyMOF/PIM-1 MMMs that display excellent CO2 separation performance (surpassing the CO2/N2 and CO2/CH4 upper bounds). In addition to exploring the physicochemical and transport properties of this polyMOF system, scalability has been demonstrated by converting the developed MMM material into large-area (400 cm2) thin-film nanocomposite (TFN) membranes.

UiO-66-NH2 modified thin film nanocomposite (TFN) membranes for selective separation of Li+/Co2+ in a flow electrode capacitive deionization system

As key metal elements in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), the recovery of lithium (Li) and cobalt (Co) showed both economic and environmental benefits. In this study, a thin-film nanocomposite (TFN) membrane with high selectivity was fabricated based on nanoscale UiO-66-NH2 particles, and the modified membranes were applied in the flow-electrode capacitive deionization device (FCDI) for the separation of monovalent and divalent cations. UiO-66-NH2 provided hydrophilic water channels and increased the permeability of Li+. TFN exhibited a rejection rate of Co2+ over 95%, and the separation factor of Li+/Co2+ was 27.44 during the operation of 150 min in FCDI with the addition of 10 mg UiO-66-NH2, which was about 1.52 times greater than that of the commercial cation-selective membrane (CSO). The size repulsion effect caused by size difference between hydrated ions and membrane pores and Donnan electrostatic repulsion force generated by positively charged membranes were evaluated to be the main basis for the ion separation of prepared membranes. The novel system using TFN membrane in FCDI had a better ability to resist Co2+ fouling and a good Li+/Co2+ separation effect. We believe these modified membranes have promising potential for the selective separation of heavy metal ions and the recycling of metal resources.

Thin film nanocomposite nanofiltration with tannic acid-Fe(III) complexes functionalized Ti3C2Tx for enhanced divalent-salinity-water separation with a superior durability

Incorporating nanomaterials for a thin film nanocomposite (TFN) layer has been verified effective to improve the separation performance of nanofiltration (NF) membranes, whereas the poor compatibility between nanomaterials and polyamide (PA) matrix leads to a decrease in the salt rejection and pollution resistance. In this study, inspired by a new interface-bridging idea, Ti3C2Tx was bonded with tannic acid-Fe(III) (TA-Fe(III)) complexes, and then incorporated into a PA matrix for the first time to obtain a novel TFN NF membrane. The introduction of TA-Ti3C2Tx was found to effectively reduce the diffusion of piperazine, and thus result in the induction of a thinner, lower roughness, more hydrophilic, and defect-free PA layer. With the addition of 0.015 wt% TA-Ti3C2Tx, the TFN membrane obtained the highest water permeability of 12.17 L m−2 h−1 bar−1, almost twice that of the pristine membrane, with a high Na2SO4 rejection above 97 %. In addition, the TA-Ti3C2Tx-filled TFN membranes were verified to exhibit excellent antifouling performance and pressure resistance with a high durability, which is crucial for the practical application in salinity water treatment. This study provides an effective strategy to tailor the interfacial microstructural of nanoparticle-filled NF membranes for superior divalent-salinity-water separation.

Development of an improved deep network model as a general technique for thin film nanocomposite reverse osmosis membrane simulation

Due to the complexity of the inherent trade-off between water permeability and salt rejection in thin film nanocomposite reverse osmosis membranes (TFN-ROMs), conventional methods have not performed satisfactorily in predicting the performance of TFN-ROMs. In this study, to address the limitations of traditional machine learning in predicting the performance of TFN-ROMs, we developed a three-component residual artificial neural network (R-TNN) and learned from membrane properties, nanoparticle properties, and membrane performance to capture the complex trade-off between water permeability and salt rejection of TFN-ROMs. The coefficients of determination of the trained R-TNN model for relative salt passage (RSP) and relative water permeability (RWP) of TFN-ROMs were 0.910 ± 0.028 and 0.739 ± 0.028, respectively, which showed good performance compared to fully-connected neural network and conventional machine learning models even with small sample data. Meanwhile, subsequent ablation experiments conducted verified that the improvement of the R-TNN model is practical and effective. In addition, we conducted data scale experiments, which showed that the R-TNN model has the potential to become a generalized technical framework for the initial informationization era and the future big data era. Subsequently, we employed the partial dependence plot to mechanistically interpret the model. Specifically, we observed a positive correlation between nanoparticle size and both RWP and RSP, while the loading of nanoparticles initially promoted and later inhibited these performances. The validated R-TNN model can better learn the inherent trade-off between salt rejection and water permeability of TFN-ROMs, which implies that this study can provide decision support for the fabrication of membranes with more outstanding performances, which greatly contributes to the promising applications of TFN-ROMs.