Mussel-inspired method to decorate commercial nanofiltration membrane for heavy metal ions removal

Nanofiltration (NF) membranes have been widely used for the treatment of electroplating, aerospace, textile, pharmaceutical, and other chemical industries. In this work, halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) were directly anchored on the surface of commercial nanofiltration (NF) membrane by dopamine modification following advantageous bio-inspired methods. SEM and AFM images were used to characterize the HNTs decorated membrane surface in terms of surface morphology and roughness. Water contact angle (WCA) was employed in evidencing the incorporation of HNTs and dopamine in terms of hydrophilicity or hydrophobicity. Augmentation of HNTs was found to obviously enhance the hydrophilicity and surface roughness resulting in improved water permeability of membrane. More importantly, the rejection ratios of membrane also increased during the removal of heavy metal ions from wastewater. The permeability and Cu2+ rejection ratio of modified NF membrane were as high as 13.9 L center dot m(-2)center dot h(-1)center dot bar(-1) and 74.3%, respectively. Incorporation of HNTs was also found to enhance the anti-fouling property and stability of membrane as evident from long-term performance tests. The relative concentration of HNTs and dopamine on membrane surface was optimized by investigating the trade-off between water permeability and rejection ratio.