Nonpolar cross-stacked super-aligned carbon nanotube membrane for efficient wastewater treatment

Membrane separation technology has made great progress in various practical applications, but the unsatisfactory separation performance of prevailing membrane materials hampers its further sustainable growth. This study proposed a novel nonpolar super-aligned carbon nanotube (SACNT) membrane, which was prepared with a layer-by-layer cross-stacking method. Through controlling the number of stacked SACNT layers, three kinds of SACNT membranes (SACNT_200, SACNT_300, and SACNT_400) were prepared. Systematic characterizations and filtration tests were performed to investigate their physico-chemical properties, surface wetting behavior, and filtration performance. Compared with two commercial membranes (Com_0.22 and Com_0.45), all the SACNT membranes achieved smoother and more uniform structures. Due to the hexagonal graphene structure of CNTs, the surface chemistry of the SACNT membranes is simple and inert, thereby potentially eliminating the covalent-bonding-induced membrane fouling. Besides, the SACNT membranes exhibited a typical nonpolar wetting behavior, with high contact angles for polar liquids (water: similar to 124.9 degrees-126.5 degrees; formamide: similar to 80.0 degrees-83.9 degrees) but low contact angles for nonpolar diiodomethane (similar to 18.8 degrees-20.9 degrees). This unique nonpolar feature potentially leads to weak interactions with polar substances. Furthermore, compared with the commercial membranes, the SACNT membranes obtained a significantly higher selectivity while achieving a comparable or higher permeability (depending on the number of stacked layers). Moreover, the SACNT membranes exhibited superior separation performance in various application scenarios, including municipal wastewater treatment (> 2.3 times higher cleaning efficiency), electro-assistant fouling inhibition (or even self-cleaning), and oil/water separation (> 99.2 % of separation efficiency), suggesting promising application prospects in various fields. (C) Higher Education Press 2023

Automated summary

This study proposes a novel nonpolar super-aligned carbon nanotube (SACNT) membrane and prepares three types of membranes by controlling the number of stacked layers. The SACNT membranes exhibit smoother and more uniform structures compared to commercial membranes, and they achieve higher selectivity and comparable or higher permeability. Furthermore, the SACNT membranes show superior separation performance in various applications such as wastewater treatment, fouling inhibition, and oil/water separation.