In Situ Assembly of Zeolite Imidazolate Framework Hybrid Thin-Film Nanocomposite Membrane with Enhanced Desalination Performance Induced by Noria-Polyethyleneimine Co-deposition.

Zeolite imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) has emerged as an excellent candidate for the preparation of thin-film nanocomposite (TFN) membrane. Nevertheless, it still remains a great challenge to effectively incorporate ZIF-8 into the resulting TFN membrane feasible for the facile application. Herein, we propose an in situ strategy to fabricate ZIF-8 nanocrystal hybrid reverse osmosis membrane induced by the ultrafast surface modification of Noria-polyethyleneimine (PEI) co-deposition. By this method, ZIF-8 nanocubes with monodispersity was firstly formed on modified support through the step-by-step deposition of precursor solutions. Afterwards, TFN membrane was fabricated by interfacial polymerization (IP) on ZIF-8 loaded support. Due to the significantly altered IP process induced by the co-existence of Noria and ZIF-8 on support surface, the TFN membrane depicts a distinct nanostrand-nanoparticle hybrid morphology, which endows the TFN membrane with excellent antifouling ability. Moreover, the permeance of as-fabricated TFN membrane is up to 3.64 Lm-2h-1bar-1, nearly 2.7-folder higher than the nascent membrane, while it still maintains a high rejection towards NaCl. The in situ assembly strategy reported here could also pave a promising way for the fabrication of TFN membranes with other nanomaterials in future.