Robust Heterogeneous-Polyamide Based Reverse Osmosis Membrane Incorporated with Nonsolvent Induced Self-Assembled Dendrimer Aggregates

In this work, a novel aromatic poly(amidoamine)-based nanofiller, nonsolvent induced self-assembled dendrimer (NI-SAD), with highly ordered molecular structure and abundant reactive terminal groups was well-designed, which was further used to prepare heterogeneous-polyamide based RO membranes. Through tuning the generation of the dendrimer, the size of NI-SAD can be precisely regulated. In addition, the self-assembly process was analyzed in detail through various simulation methods. When NI-SAD was adopted in the interfacial polymerization process, its behavior mechanism was explored by detecting both the membrane structure and the performance. After optimization, the membrane shows a 51.1% increase in permeance for brackish water desalination, while the rejection remains at 99.1%. Moreover, the membrane exhibits excellent operational stability and low filler leaching risk, thereby avoiding possible secondary pollution to the environment when in use. This work will encourage researchers to develop advanced and practical nanofillers for the preparation of high-performance composite membranes.