Construction of Fe3O4@MXene composite nanofiltration membrane for heavy metal ions removal from wastewater

Nanofiltration (NF) with adsorptive membrane technologies are one of the most promising methods for the efficient treatment of industrial wastewater having toxic heavy metal ions. The present investigation deals with the fabrication of nanocomposite Fe3O4@MXene membranes by self-assembly of Fe3O4 nanoparticles (NPs) and two-dimensional (2D) MXene nanosheets on the surface of cellulose acetate (CA) base membrane. The Fe3O4 NPs were found to be uniformly dispersed on the MXene sheet structure and thus expanded the 2D nanochannel of MXene. The water flux and the removal ratio of heavy metal ions by this nanocomposite membrane were found to improve significantly, compared to the virgin MXene membrane. Under the synergistic effect of layer sieving and the adsorption ability, the composite NF membrane was found to achieve a maximum of 63.2% for Cu2+, 64.1% for Cd2+ and 70.2% for Cr6+ removal from wastewater, respectively. Moreover, Fe3O4@MXene membrane also exhibited good recycling ability after washing by HCl solution.

Automated summary

Fabrication of nanocomposite Fe3O4@MXene membranes by self-assembly of Fe3O4 nanoparticles and two-dimensional MXene nanosheets on the surface of cellulose acetate base membrane can significantly improve the removal efficiency of toxic heavy metal ions in wastewater and exhibit good recycling ability.