Journal article
Hydrophilicity and surface charge modulation of Ti3C2Tx MXene based membranes for water desalination
RSC advances, v 14(30), pp 21635-21643
08 Jul 2024
PMID: 38979456
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
Lamellar membranes obtained by stacking 2D layers possess ample transport pathways due to their intricate network of interlayer gaps. This makes them suitable for molecular separation applications. However, controlling the surface chemistry of the nanochannels within the membrane to tune the desired transport properties of water and ions is challenging. Ti
3
C
2
T
x
has been considered for water desalination because of its hydrophilic surface and negative surface charge. Most of the studies of Ti
3
C
2
T
x
membranes have presented promising salt rejection values in forward osmosis mode, which is less practical for water purification. Here, we investigate two types of reverse osmosis MXene-based lamellar membranes consisting of Ti
3
C
2
T
x
nanosheets hybridized with (i) WS
2
nanosheets and (ii) polyvinyl phosphonic acid (PVPA). When hydrophilic and flexible Ti
3
C
2
T
x
nanosheets are interleaved with softer and more hydrophobic WS
2
nanosheets in 2 : 1 mass ratio, nano capillaries with Janus chemistry are created with comparable rejection to bare Ti
3
C
2
T
x
membrane and threefold higher permeance values. Further, we find that decorating Ti
3
C
2
T
x
nanosheets with anionic polymers improves salt rejection. Our Ti
3
C
2
T
x
/PVPA composite membranes reject ∼97% of divalent ions and ∼80% of monovalent ions with ∼0.2 Lm
−2
h
−1
bar
−1
of water permeance when tested with brackish water, and exhibit significantly improved chlorine resistance and cost benefits over the commercial Toray membranes.
Unique chemistry and disorder created by intermixing of Ti
3
C
2
T
x
and WS
2
nanosheets in a membrane help to improve water permeance, whereas functionalization with an anionic polymer improves salt rejection when tested in a pressurized system.
Metrics
Details
- Title
- Hydrophilicity and surface charge modulation of Ti3C2Tx MXene based membranes for water desalination
- Creators
- Laxmi Pandey - Department of Physics, Northeastern UniversityWentao Liang - Northeastern UniversityArmin VahidMohammadi - Drexel UniversityTeng Zhang - Drexel UniversityYury Gogotsi - Drexel UniversityMeni Wanunu - Department of Physics, Northeastern University Department of Bioengineering, Northeastern University Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Northeastern University
- Publication Details
- RSC advances, v 14(30), pp 21635-21643
- Publisher
- The Royal Society of Chemistry
- Grant note
- R21HG011689 / ;
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Materials Science and Engineering; A.J. Drexel Nanomaterials Institute
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:001265380800001
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-85198224119
- Other Identifier
- 991021893701404721
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InCites Highlights
Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:
- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Chemistry, Multidisciplinary