Hydrophilic MoS2-Interlayered ceramic supports for high-flux polyamide nanofiltration membranes

Abstract

The polyamide/ceramic composite nanofiltration membrane has attracted significant research attention due to its combined advantages of excellent mechanical stability from inorganic substrates and superior separation performance from polyamide layers. Nevertheless, there are still technical challenges in performing direct interfacial polymerization on porous ceramic membranes. To address these limitations, this work developed a novel approach using HP-β-CD as a growth modulator for the in-situ synthesis of hydrophilic MoS₂ on tubular ceramic substrates, creating a MoS₂/ceramic intermediate layer. Subsequently, a high-performance polyamide nanofiltration membrane was fabricated via interface polymerization on the MoS₂/ceramic substrate. By systematically optimizing the HP-β-CD concentration in both the precursor solution and aqueous monomer phase, we achieved precise control over both the growth of MoS₂ nanosheets on the tubular ceramic substrate and the polyamide layer structure, enabling tunable nanofiltration performance. The resulting PA/M − 3 NF membrane exhibited excellent nanofiltration performance, with high water permeance (23.8 LMH/bar), exceptional Na₂SO₄ rejection (97.8 %), and remarkable long-term stability and pressure resistance.