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Updated: Aug 20, 2025

Proof-of-Concept for Gas-Entrapping Membranes Derived from Water-Loving SiO2/Si/SiO2 Wafers for Green Desalination
Published on: March 1, 2020
Interface-Confined Channels Facilitating Water Transport through an IL-Enriched Nanocomposite Membrane
Ju Bai1,2, Lili Gong1, Luqi Xiao1
1CAS Key Laboratory of Green Process and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Multiphase Complex Systems, Beijing Key Laboratory of Ionic Liquids Clean Process, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, PR China.
Abstract:
Improving the permeance of the polyamide (PA) membrane while maintaining the rejection is crucial for promoting the development of membrane separation technology in the practical water-treatment industry. Herein, a novel metal-ionic liquid (Zn-IL) coordination compound was synthesized by in situ growth to improve the water permeance of PA nanofiltration membranes, using an amine-functionalized IL (1-aminopropyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride, [AEMIm][Cl]) as a ligand to react with Zn(NO3)2·6H2O. Piperazine (PIP) and trimesoyl chloride (TMC) were adopted to prepare the PA layer covering the Zn-IL complex. Due to the unique property of the Zn-IL complex, the Zn-IL/PIP-TMC absorbing force to water was increased, enabling the fast transport of water molecules through the membrane pore channels in the form of free water. The resulting Zn-IL/PIP-TMC nanocomposite membrane exhibited a high permeance of up to 26.5 L m-2 h-1 bar-1, which is 3 times that of the PIP-TMC membrane (8.8 L m-2 h-1 bar-1), combined with rejection above 99% for dyes such as methyl blue.
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