Fine‐tuning of fully‐aromatic polyamide membrane for fluorinated water purification

Abstract

AbstractHigh concentrations of fluoride in drinking water can lead to fluorosis of teeth and bones and other serious diseases, while nanofiltration is an attractive technique for fluoride removal. Interfacial temperature can determine the monomer diffusion rate in interfacial polymerization (IP) process, thereby tuning the structure of membrane such as thickness, pore size and surface charge. Herein, a fully‐aromatic polyamide nanofiltration membrane with desirable separation performance was customized by interface temperature. The resulting membrane exhibits a flux of 6 L m−2 h−1 bar−1 and the molecular weight cut‐off is 211 Da, most importantly, a 90.3% F− rejection to underground water, indicating that the membrane has application potential in underground water treatment. This work helps to better understand the effects of interface temperature on the IP process and provides a new strategy to address the drinking water problem.